Yu Gi Oh! XR
by Xth Form Keyblader
Summary: Seven years after Jaden's graduation, more duelists have rushed into Duel Academy in the hopes of becoming the top duelist. One of them is a person named Jaxen Mihuru. Pursuing that dream, he and his new friends will climb to the top one duel at a time.
1. The Beginning of a Dream

This is my first ever Yu-Gi-Oh fanfic so… I dunno

Just don't be expecting epic battles right away, I guess I mean to say. Anyways, let's get this underway!

Disclaimer: I do **not**, I repeat, I do **not** own Yu-Gi-Oh GX! I only own the characters Jaxen Mihuru, Professor Julia Raleigh, and Rai Tachibana! And even then, they use decks that are made up with real Yu-Gi-Oh cards!

--

**Yu-Gi-Oh XR**

_Chapter 1: The Beginning of a Dream_

Opening Theme: Independent: Ayumi Hamasaki

"My card!" a voice exclaims as a cloaked person rushes down a street.

"Leave it to me! Let me just take your deck, just in case!" another voice lets out before a young male rushes after the cloaked person. He is panting as he runs, keeping his red eyes focused forward towards his target. "Hey, wait up!" he yells out as he rushes past a poster for the legendary Duel Academy. He must be quite a sight, with his slender figure, gray hair, and red eyes chasing down a man that looked as if he could easily take him down with a finger. He, now, turns into an alleyway. He smirks as he catches sight of the cloaked person before he walks slowly towards him. "Okay, now since you're trapped…" escapes from the male's mouth as he walks slowly towards him.

At this moment, the person takes out a card and says, "You want this card? That little kid doesn't even know what he is missing… This is a pretty powerful card here." He puts the card into a deck of Duel cards before the male in front of him smirks. So, he wants to duel, huh? He takes out a deck as well, before he keeps on walking towards the cloaked person. It is at this time that he notices a crate in the alleyway and puts his deck down on it, crouching down lower before the cloaked person does it as well. "You can go first, little kid."

"Alright, let's duel!" the young boy says before he draws six cards. He glances at his cards. _'So, I got these cards, huh...?'_

Young boy LP: 4000

Cloaked Person LP: 4000

"Let's do this!" the young boy says. "I'll put a monster facedown and then I'll put down three face downs and end my turn!" As soon as he finishes, the cloaked man laughs before he draws a card.

"Pretty weak move. Now, it's my turn," the cloaked man says. "Now, I'll use 'A Legendary Ocean' for field magic." The young boy blinks a couple of times before the man shows a smirk. "Then, I'll put one card face down and put a monster face down." The man puts down two cards. "Your move."

"Fine, then! I'll first use one of my facedown cards, a magic card! Shield Crush! Now, that card that you set is sent to the graveyard!" the boy says. Hearing this, the man puts his card into the graveyard. "Now, I'll summon Mystic Mech – Senku (1000/500), in Attack Mode! And flip up my facedown monster card, The Forgiving Maiden (850/2000)!" The boy smirks before he says, "Now, I'll attack! First, with the Forgiving Maid-"

"Aw, too bad! But, I'll activate Waboku. Now, attack me all you want for this turn. It won't do anything," the male says with a smirk on his face.

"Fine, then… I'll put a facedown and now end my turn…" the young boy says before he sighs.

"Oh, and don't forget about Mystic Mech – Senku's special abilities," the older male says mockingly. "It's supposed to be sent to the graveyard after the turn that you summoned it." The young male's vision narrows before he puts the card into the graveyard. "Now, it's my turn." The cloaked man draws a card before he says, "Now, I'll summon Bolt Penguin (1100/800) in Attack Mode and A Legendary Ocean increases its attack and defense by 200 points (1300/1000)! And now, I'll have it attack your Forbidden Maiden!"

Young boy LP: 3550

Cloaked Person LP: 4000

"And now I'll end my turn," the cloaked man says smugly before the younger boy groans.

"Fine, then, my draw!" the boy says. "And not I'll activate another one of my facedown cards! It's another magic card! Hammer Shot! With this, I can destroy your Bolt Penguin!" The boy smiles before he says, "And now I'll summon Element Valkyrie in Attack Mode (1500/1200)!" The young boy smirks smugly before he says, "You already know what's going to happen… But, I'll do it anyways! Element Valkyrie! Attack his life points directly!"

Young Boy LP: 3550

Cloaked Person LP: 2500

"And now I'll end my turn," the young boy says before he looks across to his opponent and shows a smug grin.

His opponent lets out a sharp groan before he says, "Fine, then! My draw! I'll finish you somehow…" He draws a card before his eyes narrow. "I'll set one monster face down and end my turn."

This response pleases the young boy, as seen on his face. "Okay, then! My move!" The boy smirks before he says, "Okay, now I'll use another facedown card! Nobleman of Cross out! With that, I'll destroy your face down monster!" The boy looks towards a card in his hand before he thinks, _'Shinato… And my last facedown card is Shinato's Ark… But, not yet. I don't have enough stars in order for me to summon it, after all. Aw, man! Why couldn't this second card be a monster card?!'_ The male shakes out of his thinking before he says, "Okay, and now I'll use Element Valkyrie to attack you directly… And then I'll end my turn."

Young Boy LP: 3550

Cloaked Person LP: 1000

The cloaked man draws another card before he smirks. "First, I'll put down a facedown card and then I'll end my turn."

The boy smirks before he scratches his head. His opponent is smirking. He wonders the reason why. He draws a card from his deck before he smiles. "Yes," he mutters to himself. It is Hourglass of Courage. Along with his Element Valkyrie, both of them are level four monsters, adding up to eight. It is just enough for him to summon Shinato. "Okay, I activate Shinato's Ark and sacrifice my Element Valykrie and my Hourglass of Courage to summon Shinato, King of a Higher Plane (3300/3000) in Attack Mode." His smile gets larger before he says, "Now, I order Shinato to attack your facedown monster!"

"And that's too bad! My Man-Eating Bug is under there!" the older male says before he flips over his card. "Due to Shinato's effect, I lose 450 points. However, you lose Shinato!" The boy blinks a couple of times before he puts Shinato into the graveyard, clearing up his side of the field. "I guess I end my turn then."

Young Boy LP: 3500

Cloaked Person LP: 550

"Well, that stinks for you!" the cloaked man says before he draws a card. "Now, here we go! I now summon Legendary Fisherman (1850/1600) in Attack Mode." The young boy blinks a couple of times before the older male explains, "Due to A Legendary Ocean's special effect, all of the water monsters in my hand and on the field are downgraded by one star. Thusly, I can now summon The Legendary Fisherman without any sacrifices. Of course, it doesn't get any field bonus because of its special effect but it's still a good plus." He nods in agreement with himself before he says, "Anyways, I will now attack!"

Young Boy LP: 1650

Cloaked Person LP: 550

"And now I'll end my turn!" the cloaked man says. "This'll be your last turn, little kid!" The younger male sucks his teeth before he draws again. And now, it is his turn to smirk. The older male, looking at him smirk, lets out a soft sigh. Youth being youth, he guesses.

"Okay, first I'll put down a card called Premature Burial. With this card, I can summon one card from my graveyard. So, I chose Elemental Valkyrie. "And now, I'll sacrifice it to summon Airknight Parshath (1900/1400) in Attack Mode!" At this moment, the older male lets out a small gasp before the young male smirks. "And now I'll attack."

Young boy LP: 850

Cloaked Person LP: 500

"And now, due to the fact that I dealt Battle Damage to you, I can draw a card," the young male says before he draws a card. "Now, I will use Hinotama to take away the last 500 life points."

Young boy LP: 850

Cloaked Person LP: 0

A few minutes later, the young male is walking out of the alleyway, looking at a card. "Majestic Mech - Goryu, huh…? Not a bad card…"He walks right into a person and falls back slightly, glancing ahead to catch sight of a boy with brown hair and brown eyes. He doesn't need to hide his excitement. He can't do it anyways. The person he just bumped into is the legendary duelist, Jaden Yuki! "I… Um, uh… I- I'm sorry!" the male says before he bows down humbly.

Jaden lets out a large laugh before he puts his hand on his hip. The kid needs to relax. "I saw your duel," he says. "Are you going to go to Duel Academy?" The young male blinks a couple of times. Duel Academy? He remembers passing posters about it, but he never really regarded them. He always believed that he wasn't good enough to go in there so he never bothered to try. The look on the male's face answers everything for Jaden before he says, "You should try out. You should be able to make it in." The young male's ears must not be working. Did he just hear Jaden Yuki tell him that he could possibly enter Duel Academy? He blinks a couple of times before his eyes widen. "What's your name?"

"Jaxen! Jaxen Mihuru!" the young male says before he smiles. He glances down to the deck in his hand before he says, "But, this isn't even my deck, though… My deck is very weak."

Jaden blinks a couple of times. He has seen many a duelist say that. However, he always counters it with one saying, "Not one card is useless. So, there's no way that you can have a weak deck. You just need to find a way to make it. You are a duelist, after all. The only thing that you should be focused on is having fun while you duel." Jaden begins to walk away as Jaxen stands there, looking at Jaden as he walks off. That **was** Jaden Yuki! No doubt about it!

--

It has now been a day ever since Jaxen has met Jaden and now, he is rushing towards Kaiba Corporation. "I couldn't stop thinking about it last night…" he mutters to himself before he busts through the door to the company, heading down a hallway to catch sight of a Duel arena. "Whoa! This is huge!"

"Of course it is!" a person says. Jaxen notices that the voice is close next to him and turns to his right. He catches sight of a young brown-haired woman. She has her blue orbs staring straight at him, as she crosses her arms just below her chest. Jaxen admires her shoulder-length hair before she says, "So, you're here for the entrance exam, huh?" He tosses a duel disk to Jaxen before he says, "My name is Professor Julia Raleigh, I'm one of the leaders of the Obelisk Blue students, as well as one of the proctors for these exams. Now, let's get down to the Duel Field and test you out."

As soon as they get down to the Duel field, Jaxen puts on his duel disk and puts his deck inside the deck slot. As soon as he looks to Professor Raleigh, the two of them say, "Let's duel!" Little does Jaxen know, however, that someone is looking on at their duel.

Professor Raleigh LP: 4000

Jaxen LP: 4000

"Well, I guess I'll go first. I'll have to get used to this deck, after all," Raleigh says before she draws a card from her deck. "Okay, first I'll summon King's Knight (1600/1400) in Attack Mode." At the second that King's Knight appears on the field, Jaxen's eyes widen. This is the first time he has ever seen a dueling hologram so up-close before! And he has to admit, it looks pretty cool. Catching sight of this, Professor Raleigh says, "Are you done gawking at my monster yet?" Jaxen quickly shakes his head, trying to shake off the feeling of awe before Professor Raleigh laughs slightly and says, "I'll end my turn with that."

"Okay, then! My draw!" Jaxen says confidently before he draws a card. "Okay, then! I'll summon Blazing Inpachi (1850/0) in Attack mode and equip him with Salamandra! That makes him gain 700 extra points!" Jaxen smirks before he says, "Now, I'll attack! Blazing Inpachi! Attack her King's Knight!"

Professor Raleigh LP: 3050

Jaxen LP: 4000

"Now, I'll throw down a face down and end my turn!" Jaxen says.

Professor Raleigh draws a card before she says, "I'll put one card face down before I summon a monster facedown!" Professor Raleigh puts down her two cards before she lets out a large sigh. "And now, I'll end my turn!"

"Okay, then!" Jaxen yells out. "Now, it's my turn!" He feels completely energetic, since he is dueling so well. At least, he thinks so. "Now, I summon Battle Footballer in attack mode (1000/2100)! And now, I'll use it to attack your facedown monster!" Jaxen smirks as he sees Battle Footballer attack, but is amazed to catch sight of Familiar Knight (1200/1400) being the facedown card.

Professor Raleigh LP: 3050

Jaxen LP: 3600

Jaxen sucks his teeth. He got too excited. He now says, "Okay, then! Blazing Inpachi! Attack her Familiar Knight!"

Professor Raleigh smirks before she says, "You just activated my knight's special ability! Now, we both can summon one level four monster from our hands as a special summon! And I choose my King's Knight!"

Jaxen glances around his hand to catch sight of Abaki and smirks. He really wasn't paying attention before, was he? "I summon Abaki in attack mode (1700/1100)! And I'll use it to attack your King Knight!"

Professor Raleigh LP: 2950

Jaxen LP: 3600

"And now, I'll end my turn," Jaxen says and sighs. He at least recovered for a little bit.

"Now, it's my turn!" Professor Raleigh says before she draws a card. "And now, I'll summon a Queen's Knight (1500/1600) in attack mode! Now, time for me use this card! Sword of Dragon's Soul!" Jaxen blinks a couple of times before he puts on a face of confusion on his face. "Okay, here's its effect, it gives my Queen's Knight 700 points in attack. And with that, I can deal some serious damage to your life points! Queen's Knight, attack Battle Footballer!"

Professor Raleigh LP: 2950

Jaxen LP: 2400

Jaxen blinks a couple of times before he says, "But, it's still weaker than my Blazing Inpachi…"

"Who said that I was done?" Professor Raleigh asks. "I now use Mystic Space Typhoon to destroy your Salamandra! So, now, your Blazing Inpachi is back to normal!" Jaxen watches as his magic card gets destroyed before he gulps. "Now, I'll end my turn."

Jaxen draws one card before he puts it into his hand. He sucks his teeth. This is not going smoothly at all. "Fine, then! I'll put one card facedown and switch all of my cards into defense mode…" Jaxen puts one card facedown before he sighs and says, "I end my turn."

"Okay, then! Now, it's my turn!" Professor Raleigh says. She draws a card before she looks at it and smiles. "Now, I'll attack with Queen's Knight and I'll attack your Inpachi." She slightly smiles before she says, "Now, I'll end my turn."

"Okay, then…" Jaxen says before he closes his eyes. "Jaden said that… No card is useless. Now, please… show me that!" He then draws a card before he looks at it and smiles. "Yes!" At this moment, Professor Raleigh blinks a couple of times. What is going on? "Now, I'll summon Ultimate Baseball Kid in Attack Mode!" he says. He smirks. "And you know its special ability, right? It gains 1000 points for everyone other fire-type monster on the field and I count two so that's 1000 more points!"

"However, you're still short! You need more attack points in order for you to attack my Queen's Knight!" Professor Raleigh says.

Jaxen smirks before he says, "That's the reason why I have my facedown card! Now, I'll reveal it! Book of Moon!" Jaxen looks across the field to catch sight of the Professor's stunned face. "Now, your Queen's Knight is flipped upside down! And that equipped card is now useless!" With that, the hologram for Sword of the Dragon's Soul shatters. "Now, I'll switch all of my cards into attack mode! Ultimate Baseball Kid, attack her facedown card!"

Jaxen smirks before he looks to see Professor Raleigh's expression. She is smiling. He's sure of it! "Now, I'll activate my facedown card, Negate Attack!" Jaxen blinks a couple of times before he lets out a large sigh. She sure has been holding back her cards for a while now. "Looks like you're serious. So, I'll be serious as well." Jaxen blinks a couple of times before he sighs. His possible future teacher seems to be quite the character.

He lets out another sigh before he says, "Okay, then. I'll put two cards facedown end my turn now."

Professor Raleigh smiles before she draws her card. "Now, I'll show you the power of my knights! I'll flip up Queen's Knight! And then I'll summon my King's Knight in attack mode!" Jaxen blinks a couple of times before he catches sight of the King's Knight once again. "Now, King's Knight's special ability activates! If I normal summon it alongside with my Queen's Knight, I can special summon a Jack's Knight (1900/1000) from my hand!" At the second that the third knight shows up on the field, Jaxen takes a step back. He had faced two of them before. However, he had no idea how overwhelming it would feel to have the three ironclad warriors staring him down.

"Now, I'll attack!" Professor Raleigh says. "Now, Jack's Knight, attack his Abaki!" she yells out before she notices that Jaxen has activated a trap card. "Huh? Oh, Shadow Spell, huh? So, my Jack's Knight can't attack and it loses 700 attack points." She shakes her head. "I guess that's no good. King's Knight! Attack his Ultimate Baseball Kid!" she yells out before the knight charges towards the small baseball hat-clad monster. The second that the knight slashes through the monster with his sword, Jaxen notices his LP has been cut a little bit.

Professor Raleigh LP: 2950

Jaxen LP: 2300

"I'll put two facedown cards and end my turn here. Your move," she says sullenly before Jaxen breathes out in relief. That was close.

"Okay, now… My move!" he yells out before he draws a card. He keeps on looking at the card in his hand before he blinks a couple of times. With this card, he can possibly end the duel during this turn! He has got to try! "Okay, then! Now, I activate Premature Burial from my hand! I'll give up 800 points to bring back Ultimate Baseball Kid from the graveyard!"

Professor Raleigh LP: 2950

Jaxen LP: 1500

"Not so fast! I activate my trap card!" Professor Raleigh yells out. "Magic Jammer! So, I'll discard one card from my hand… And I can stop you using your Premature Burial!"

"Not so fast for you!" Jaxen says. "I activate Tools of the Bandit! So, I lose 1000 life points but I'll be able to stop your Magic Jammer from stopping my Premature Burial!" As soon as he sees Magic Jammer shatter, Jaxen smirks and flicks his nose. "Now, let's start!"

Professor Raleigh LP: 2950

Jaxen LP: 500

And now, I'll use this monster card! Gaia Soul, the Combustible Collective (2000/0)!" He smirks as Professor Raleigh gasps. She knows what he's going to do next. "Since you've guessed it, I'll just do it! I'll sacrifice both my Ultimate Baseball Kid and my Abaki to increase its attack points by 2000! And I'll use one card from my card known as Twin Swords of Flashing Light! You see… It decreases my card's attack by 500 points but in exchange, it can attack twice in one turn!" Jaxen then points to Jack's Knight and then Queen's Knight. "It's within my sight now! I'm gonna win! Gaia Soul! Attack Jack's Knight!"

Professor Raleigh LP: 650

Jaxen LP: 500

"Now, Gaia Soul attack Queen's Knight!" he yells out. As soon as he notices that Professor Raleigh had activated a Trap Card, he gasps and takes a look at it. "Ring of Destruction?!"

"Yes, so now I destroy your Gaia Soul, the Combustible Collective and both of us lose life points equal to its attack points," Professor Raleigh says sullenly._ 'I really didn't want to do that… However, you were extremely close, weren't you? You're not bad, little kid.'_

Professor Raleigh LP: 0

Jaxen LP: 0

Jaxen breathes out a groan of frustration before he mutters, "I was so close!" He, however, finds himself smiling before he says, "That was fun, though…" He notices a shadow covering him before he looks up to catch sight of Professor Raleigh looking down at him. He smiles brightly before he says, "Nice duel."

Professor Raleigh laughs slightly, saying, "Nice job. What's your name?" she asks.

"My name is-" Jaxen starts before he notices that Professor Raleigh is walking out of the Duel field. "Jaxen Mihuru…" She smiles and says, "Oh, that's your name? Well, nice to meet you, Jaxen." Jaxen glances behind him to see her walking off again. He lets out a soft sigh before she waves back. "The ship will leave tomorrow at 9 am sharp! Don't be late!" At hearing her say that, Jaxen lets out a large gasp before jumping up. A huge, 'Yay,' can be heard from the Duel Field as he jumps up and down in excitement.

Meanwhile, Professor Raleigh arrives at the entrance as she catches sight of a blue-haired girl, no older than Jaxen's age. "Oh, so you watched the duel, huh? And how did you like it? Did it entertain you some, Rai?"

The girl turns around before she begins to walk off. Her green orbs of eyes glances straight ahead as she feels a chill run through her body from her legs on. She hates wearing skirts during a windy day. She heaves a large sigh before glancing back to the Professor. "Even though it was mostly by luck, I'm noticing that the guy's evolving as he the duels go on. I'm can't take my eyes off of him. He could be a problem in the future for me…" She turns around before she walks off.

A few minutes later, Jaxen stands outside of the Kaiba Corporation, glancing at the building. "It's such a small step," he mutters to himself. "However, being able to enter Duel Academy almost seems like a dream…" Jaxen glances up towards the sky and smiles. "Well, even though it seems to be a far off dream, I want to become a dueling pro! And I'm not going to let anyone get in my way!"

Ending Theme: Game: Ayumi Hamasaki

--

You've probably noticed that I have no opening theme. Well, I just can't really find one that would fit this fanfic. If you find one that works, can you please let me know somehow? Anyways, please give me feedback! This'll help me get better at this!

Preview: Jaxen: After getting onto the ship to go to Duel Academy, I run into a student. He is expected to become a Slifer Red, just like I am going to be. However, he seems to have a bad attitude and it is rumored that he was sent here to avoid a juvenile detention sentence, along with the gang that he hangs out with. I shouldn't have any reason to duel him but I just can't let them take my cards without a fight! And the person that I'm dueling… He seems to not share the same attitude as the rest of the gang. Anyways, I'm just going to have to duke it out!

**Next time:** The Duelist That Rocks the World; Stone Dempsey!


	2. The Duelist That Rocks the World

Thanks, **HeroGuardian**! I love the song! Thanks for recommending it!

**Kasperow**, thanks for point out my miscalculation! I didn't even notice it when I was reading it over! Thanks again!

Disclaimer: I do **not**, I repeat, I do **not** own Yu-Gi-Oh GX! I only own the characters Jaxen Mihuru, Professor Julia Raleigh, Stone Dempsey, the members of Stone's gang, Vega Tsubame, Rai Tachibana, and Heisen Tannhauser! And even then, they use decks that are made up with real Yu-Gi-Oh cards!

---

**Yu-Gi-Oh XR**

_Chapter 2:The Duelist That Rocks the World; Stone Dempsey_

Opening Theme: Independent: Ayumi Hamasaki

Jaxen lets out a large yawn as he runs down the street. Professor Raleigh said that he has to be at the ship at nine o'clock. And it is now… ten of nine. He's making good ti- "Five of nine?! Looks like I I'm gonna have to floor it!" he yells out before he begins to run faster down the street. After this, the shipyard comes into sigh and a large ship, which Jaxen assumes is the ship to Duel Academy. "Alright! Almost there!" he exclaims before he looks towards a nearby clock. Aw, man! It's 8:55! Five more minutes! Jaxen looks around to see a moped nearby. He smirks before he charges towards the moped and jumps onto it. He revs the engine up, having it speed down the road, towards the shipyard.

A person steps out of a nearby shop and looks to notice that something is missing: his moped! He looks down the street to catch sight of Jaxen riding his moped down the street. His confusion is replaced with infuriation before he yells, "Hey, you kid! Give me back my moped!"

Jaxen looks behind to see the person running, towards him that is. However, it is obvious that the moped is faster and the person quickly fades back, until he is just a little speck to Jaxen. Even though he cannot see him, Jaxen says, "Sorry dude! I'll leave it in the shipyard! Come and get it when you can okay?!" Jaxen looks back ahead before h revs up the engine again and speeds up. As soon as he gets into the shipyard, he finds himself hitting the breaks and stumbling off of the moped. He then runs towards the ship, which he notices is leaving the dock. "Wait for me!" he yells in between his deep breaths as the ship keeps on moving away from the dock. "No!" He trips and falls on the ground as the ship keeps on going. A few seconds later, he looks ahead, seeing the ship heading towards the horizon, as he feels tears well up in his eyes. "I didn't just miss the ship, right…?" he mutters to himself.

"What are you doing?!" a voice cries of from across the dock. Jaxen looks over, attracted by the sound of the voice. It sounds somewhat familiar. He sees Professor Raleigh waving to him from the other side of the dock. Jaxen then notices that there is another large ship behind her. "Hurry up or we'll leave you!"

Jaxen blinks a couple of times before he looks to the ship and then to the small dot that is the other ship. He blinks a couple of more times before he points to the other ship and asks, "That wasn't the ship...?" He looks back to Professor Raleigh before he asks, "That one is?" He blinks even more before he notices that Professor Raleigh is now tapping her foot in annoyance. He blinks a few more times before he asks, "Why do you look so angr-?"

"Are you coming or not?!" she bursts out, making Jaxen jump back a foot or so.

"I'm coming!" Jaxen yells out before he begins to run towards the ship. "Don't go away!" he says in between of his pants. Doing all of this running is really starting to wear Jaxen out.

"Yeah, right…" the older woman says before letting out a large sigh. Trying to help Jaxen is starting to take a toll on her as well.

---

It is some time later and Jaxen is resting in his cabin. He lets out a small yawn before he opens his eyes and sits up on his bed. "I'm bored," he mutters dreamily. As he rubs his eyes, he receives a realization: He's on a ship, heading to Duel Academy with other duelists like himself! He could catch a duel or maybe even get into one or two of his own! He checks his waist to make sure that he has the deck holder on his waist. "Good," he mutters with a nod before he walks out of the room-

And right into a person. "Ow, ow," escapes from Jaxen's mouth. The young male rubs his head and lets out a sigh before he stands up. "I'm sorry," he says, glancing to the person he bumped into. He's big, huge even! No wonder he didn't get fazed by Jaxen's running into him. However, this is the best look that he can get of him, as the person was soon quickly surrounded by others; one on the person's left and two on the person's right.

The one on the left is wearing a hat, which is protecting his blue eyes from the sun and hiding his brunette bangs from sight. On his left arm, he wears his duel disk, although it is somehow upside down, which almost brings Jaxen down to laughter. He notices that just about everyone in this group of four looks the same: blue eyes, brown hair, same cold stare directed towards him. He also notices that they have different roman numbers imprinted on their faces, from one, that the one on the left has, to two, which is the number of the one on the far right, to three, which is the number of the one in the middle. It doesn't help that they all seem to wear black leather jackets, with white undershirts, blue jeans, and black sneakers. They don't look like dueling students. They look like a gang. The only one that Jaxen can tell was different is the person he bumped into. With his green eyes, green hair, and dark complexion, he sticks out like a sore thumb. However, Jaxen would never say that to his face. He seems to be in the same gang as the other three.

Jaxen now notices that their attention have drifted further down towards his waist. He already knows what they are looking at: his deck. Jaxen laughs nervously before he says, "Uh… Like my cards or something?"

The person on the furthest left smirks. He now says, "Oh, yeah! I like your cards a lot! Even better: we'd like to have them! Wouldn't we, Mike, Julian?" The two other people nod in agreement with this statement as they begin to inch closer towards Jaxen. "Yeah! How about we take them as payment for bumping into our friend, Stone, here?"

Jaxen notices that the people are starting to collapse in on him, blocking his possible route to escape. "Uh… Can you think of anything else for payment besides from my cards?" he asks However, he doesn't even give them time to answer his question as h breaks out of the enclosing half-circle and runs down the hallway. Jaxen, hoping that they will not pursue him, slows down his pace to hear footsteps heading towards him He looks behind to catch sight of the three similar-looking people chasing after him. "Oh, you have got to be joking me!" he yells out before he runs faster, heading towards a double door. He pushes it open before he notices a large crowd has been forming in this room.

He can get away now! Jaxen pushes his way into the crowd, trying to move towards the center. As he arrives at the middle, he sees monsters ranging from dragons to phoenixes, to knights. So, this is where all of the dueling is going on! He wants to join in so badly! But now's not the time for fun. He still has people chasing after him. Looking around, he moves towards the nearest door and forces it open. Looking around, he lets out a large sigh before he walks down the hallway. "Too close… I thought that I was done for there."

Meanwhile, the group of four meet up again before the one with the Roman numeral two on his face sighs. "Man, darn it! We missed him! David, Julian! Why the hell could we not catch that little brat?!" he asks the group.

The one with a Roman numeral three on his face sighs. "Don't worry about it, Mike. It's not like there aren't more for us to take from on this ship," he says. He looks around before he snickers and points to a girl who is walking by. "Okay, then… Time for us to go to work! What about it, Stone?"

Stone smirks before he says, "Sure, why not? Let's do it." Stone begins walking towards the girl as he feels a small tinge in his stomach. Something's telling him to not do things like this. However, he disregards it. _'I'm stuck here… What can I do with what I have now?'_

At this moment in time, Stone intercepts a few voices. "So, aren't those guys the ones who are here on a disciplinary order?" a person nearby asks. Stone doesn't need to look to them, just the fact that he stops talking makes them run away from where he is. "Please don't hurt us!" a couple of people say.

Stone lets out a large sigh before he thinks, _'Nothing. I have nothing. Besides from those guys, my strength, and my pride, I have nothing. And that's all I need. It really is.'_ Stone stops in front of the girl, who looks up to him with her brown eyes, her red hair dropping down beneath her. Stone has got to admit that she is a sight to behold, although she still seems to be in the middle of puberty. Stone glares back down to her before he says, "You're going to be my dueling partner, that's okay, isn't it?"

"Um… Uh…" escapes from the girl's mouth.

---

Jaxen is walking back towards his cabin, being completely unsuccessful with getting a duel within the ballroom. He sucks his teeth. "Man, I need to get a good duel in," he mutters before he catches sight of two people running down the deck, nearly hitting into him, if he doesn't step out of the way in the last second. "What was with that…?"

"That gang member's going to get us! Especially if that girl doesn't keep them occupied!" they yell out into the air before Jaxen blinks a couple of times. It takes him a moment but he then understands the people that they are referring to. He shakes hi head before he begins running in the direction of the head of the ship. It's almost always occupied and it's a huge space. It's the perfect place for a secret duel to take place. After hearing this, he can't help but just avoid them for a second time. He has to duel! He turns the corner and catches sight of the girl and Stone. He charges towards the two of them before he notices a fist going into the side of his face. Jaxen falls back a little bit before he looks to see David smirking at him.

"Oh, what do we have here? Is this the same little brat that ran away from us last time?" David asks. Jaxen rubs the side of his face before he glares at David. "Hey, hey… Don't look at me like that! It's going to make me blush! You deserve a beating!"

Jaxen, knowing that another punch is coming, says, "I'll duel you!" Noticing that David has stopped attacking him for a moment, Jaxen points to Stone before he says, "I challenge you to a duel!" He puts his hand on top of his deck holder on his waist.

Stone blinks a couple of times before he glances to Jaxen's face. He can easily tell that there is no trace of fear on Jaxen's face. No, no fear at all. There is just pure determination. He smirks before he says, "Fine." He puts his hand into his pocket before his smirk widens. "I don't feel like dueling you, idiot. However, I'll put you into your place." He reaches into his pocket and takes out a deck. "If I win, I'll get your deck and then I'll go after that girl's." He shuffles the deck a little bit before he puts in inside of his duel disk. "However, if by some miracle, you manage to beat me, I'll leave you and that girl alone. That work?"

Stone is expecting Jaxen to give up. However, Jaxen just glances towards him before he says, "Fine, then. That's good enough." Jaxen takes his deck out of his deck holder and shuffles his deck. As soon as he finishes, he puts it into his duel disk, which soon turns on.

Stone LP: 4000

Jaxen LP: 4000

"So… Another duel, I see…" Rai mutters to herself as she watches the duel from behind the corner. "Interesting…"

"Duel!" the two of them say in unison as soon as they draw five cards. "Okay, then!" Stone yells out before h draws a card from his deck. "I'll throw a monster facedown and put down two cards. Then, I'll end my turn."

"Alright! So now, I'll draw!" Jaxen says before he draws a card from his deck. He looks to his cards as he blinks a couple of times. His original card hand was Radiant Mirror Force, Salamandra, Trap Hole, and Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch. He now looks to his new card and smirks. It many not be useful now but it can turn out to be useful later. "I'll put down four cards and now I'll put a monster facedown and end my turn." Jaxen gulps as he knows that Ultimate Baseball Kid only have 1000 defense points. It won't stand up to much.

Stone lets out a small 'hmph' before he draws a card. "Fine, then," he says. "Now, I'll flip up my facedown card to reveal my Morphing Jar (700/600)! Now, we both discard all of the cards in our hands and then we draw 5 new cards each!" Stone puts his cards into a pile before putting them to the Graveyard and then we draw five new cards each!" Stone puts his cards into a pile before putting them into the Graveyard. He then draws five cards from his deck. "Now, I'll activate my facedown card! Premature Burial!" Jaxen blinks a couple of times before he scratches his head. So that was the reason why he wanted to use Morphing Jar! "Now, I'll give up 850 life points so I can summon this!" Stone takes a card from his graveyard slot and places it on his duel disk. "Mystic Swordsman LV. 6 (2300/1700)!" he yells out before a swordsman, wielding two large blades, appears beside him.

Stone LP: 3200

Jaxen LP: 4000

"And now, I'll attack! Mystic Swordsman LV. 6! Attack his facedown card!" Stone yells out before the swordsman began charging towards Jaxen's face down card. "And as an effect, I can destroy your face down card without flipping it up or doing any damage calculation!" With that, the card was destroyed without any trouble. Jaxen blinks a couple of times before he sees the card go back to the top of his deck. "Oh, I forgot. When my Mystic Swordsman LV. 6 destroys a card, I can choose to send it to the top of my opponent's deck."

"What's the point of that?! Cards are useless if they cannot kill them!" David asks. With this, Stone winces at the words. Jaxen looks at Stone, having caught the second in which he winced.

'_He might be a little bit different,'_ Jaxen thinks.

"If he does that, then his opponent will just keep on drawing the same card over and over again…" the girl says, tapping her fingers as she speaks. "So, he will probably end up winning because his opponent will not be able to get anymore cards."

"That makes sense," Julian says. "Get all of that, David?!"

"Quiet, you!" David yells out before he turns back to the duel.

"And now, Morphing Jar! Attack him directly!" Stone yells out. The Morphing Jar appears in front of Jaxen and hits him with his head before retreating back.

Stone LP: 3200

Jaxen LP: 3300

Stone smirks before he says, "So, I'll put down two face down cards and end my turn."

"Okay, then…" Jaxen mutters. "My move!" Jaxen draws a card. "Okay, then! I'll summon Blast Asmodian in Attack Mode!" Stone looks to Jaxen weirdly before Jaxen smirks. "Now, I'll activate Premature Burial from my hand!" Jaxen holds out the Premature Burial in front of him. "So, I think you know the drill… I give up 800 life points and I can summon a card from my Graveyard!"

"Not yet!" Stone yells out. Jaxen glances at the card that is on the side of Stone. "Magic Drain! With this card, you either discard a magic card or your card will be negated!"

Jaxen smirks before he says, "Then I guess it must be a good thing that I have A Feather of the Phoenix in my hand…" Jaxen discards a card before he sees Magic Drain disappear from Stone's side of the field. "Now, I'll continue. Oh, I almost forgot! Check out your life points!"

Stone LP: 2700

Jaxen LP: 2500

"What the-? What happened to my life points?!" Stone asks before he looks over to Jaxen's side of the field. _'He has no trap cards or anything activated… What is it?!'_ Stone looks over to Blast Asmodian before he says, "You mean-?"

"So, you get it," Jaxen says. "My Blast Asmodian has a special effect. If a chin of magic and trap cards happen, it will deal 500 points of damage to your life points!" Jaxen smirks. "Anyways, I'll now summon Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch in Attack Mode!" Stone looks at Jaxen strangely before he says, "What? You think that you were the only one who could summon something strong?" Jaxen looks over as a fire pillar lands next to him. Within the fire pillar, Stone could see a figure forming. He swallows as he focuses back to the duel.

"Yo, Stone! If you have a way for you to win, you'd better use it now!" David yells out. Stone bites his lip as he prepares to activate something…

"Okay, now it's my turn! Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch! Attack his Mystic Swordsman LV. 6!" Jaxen yells out before his monster summons a fireball to its hand. "Cool!" he says. If this attack works, then he'll have the advantage.

"Not yet," Stone says. "Now, I'll reveal my facedown card! I'll use Negate Attack to stop your Thestalos' attack!"

Jaxen lets out a large sigh before he says, "Okay, then… I'll end my turn now."

"Good!" Stone says before he smirks at Jaxen. He then draws a card. "Okay, now I'll use my other facedown card! Giant Trunade!" Jaxen gasps before Stone smirks. "And now I'll return all of the Trap of Spell Cards back to their owner's hand!" Jaxen shakes his head before he activates a trap card and discards one card.

"I'll activate this card!" Jaxen says. His trap card flips up as the wind of Giant Trunade keeps on blowing. "With Rising Energy, I can increase one of my monsters' attack by 1500 points and I choose my Blast Asmodian!" Jaxen smirks as well before a weird, golen aura surrounds Blast Asmodian. "Now its attack is 2500 and your lose 500 life points due to its special effect!" Jaxen sees Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch disappear before he sighs. _'Man… Back to the drawing board…'_

Stone LP: 2200

Jaxen LP: 2500

Jaxen then grabs his four spell and trap cards before Stone grumbles. "Fine, then… I'll end my turn with putting down three facedown cards and putting my Morphing Jar into defense mode." Stone places down three cards into his magic and trap card zone. He looks over to Jaxen before he thinks, _'This is fun… Its actually fun!'_ However, Stone does not let his expression show this and just simply says, "Go, kid."

"My pleasure! Due to the fact that it's the end of your turn, Blast Asmodian's attack goes back down to 1000," Jaxen says. He looks to his hand before he thinks. _'Let me see… I could Special Summon Thestalos again… But, at this rate, Stone can just find another way to stop me from using it. Hm…'_ Jaxen shakes his head. He's got to try it, regardless! "I'll activate Premature Burial from my hand!"

"Not so fast!" Stone yells out. "I activate Magic Jammer! Now, I'll discard one card from my hand to negate your magic card!" Stone looks to see Premature Burial disappear from the field.

"Have you forgotten, Stone? About my Blast Asmodian's special effect?" Jxen asks as he looks over to Stone. However, he notices that Stone is smirking. "Huh…?"

"I now activate my second facedown card! Barrel Behind the Door!" Now, if I was to take any type of damage besides from Battle Damage, the damage is then directed to my opponent," Stone says. "However, it's not like something like that would happen, right?"

The fireballs heading towards Stone goes into a pair of battles that have appeared on the field before they move to Jaxen. As soon as they get within striking distance, they blow up. Jaxen lets out a small yell before he looks to his life points. 2000 left, huh?

Stone LP: 2200

Jaxen LP: 2000

Jaxen looks to his hand before he sighs and thinks, _'What's the use of these things? I mean, I have the Shallow Grave and Pot of Greed! How useful could those cards be?! Well, I do get a free monster if The Shallow Grave works…'_ Jaxen glances up before he says, "Okay, I'll activate this card! The Shallow Grave! Now, we both get to choose one card from our graveyards and put them onto the field in face-down Defense Position." Jaxen takes Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch from his Graveyard and puts it facedown on his side of the field. Jaxen glances to Stone's last facedown card and blinks a couple of times. Jaxen glances down at Pot of Greed before he blinks a couple of times. "And then… I'll put one monster card facedown and put one card facedown. And now, I'll end my turn."

"Around time, I was waiting," Stone says before Jaxen heaves a large sigh. "Now, I'll sacrifice my Morphing Jar to summon this card: Rock Spirit in attack mode!"

"Good! Now I can use it!" Jaxen yells out before he flips over a card. "I activate Trap Hole to destroy your Rock Spirit!" The second that the card is summoned to Stone's side to the field, a hole appears below it, making the monster fall down into it. Seeing this, Stone gets angry.

Stone grumbles a couple of times before he looks to a card in his hand. He sucks his teeth before he looks towards his trap card nearby and smirks. "I now activate Spiritual Earth Art: Kurogane! Now, I will sacrifice my facedown card to bring out my Mystic Swordsman LV. 4 (1900/1400) out in attack mode!" Jaxen blinks a couple of times before he sighs. A swordsman, wielding a double-bladed sword, lands next to the Mystic Swordsman LV. 6. "Now, I'll attack! Mystic Swordsman LV. 4! Attack his facedown card! Even those I already know that its Thestalos." Jaxen takes a step back as his Thestalos, the Firestorm Monarch is destroyed. "Now, Mystic Swordsman LV. 6, attack his other facedown monster! And just to give you some hope, I'll choose to not activate its effect." Stone smirks as Jaxen looks around himself seeing no monsters aside from Blast Asmodian! "That isn't even the half of it! Now, I'll end my turn! Now, let's see you make your last move!"

Jaxen glares at Stone before he draws a card. "Book of Moon…" escapes from Jaxen's mouth. He then looks over to the facedown card in front of him. Pot of Greed. That could change the whole duel, can't it? Jaxen nods in agreement. "Okay, then! I activate Pot of Greed! So, now I can draw two cards from my deck!" Jaxen closes his eyes before he says, "I believe in you… Help me!" Jaxen draws the two cards. However, it is only once he opens his eyes that he smiles. "Okay, my turn! I will first change the battle position of my Blast Asmodian to Attack Mode! Then, I'll equip Salamandra to it!" A facedown card on the field flips face up and then a sword lands in Blast Asmodian's hand. "Now, I'll activate Big Bang Shot from my hand! So, people at home who are keeping track, my Blast Asmodian now has 2100 attack! Now, I summon Little Chimera in attack mode!"

Stone lets out a small grunt of annoyance. "Little Chimera?! Are you mocking me or something?! That puny little thing only has 1000 attack points!"

Jaxen sighs, saying, "This is true. But, look to my Blast Asmodian! It's got 2600! Due to Little Chimera's special ability, that is." Jaxen smirks. "It increases all fire types on the field by 500 points." Stone's eyes widens before Jaxen points to Stone. "Now, I'll attack! Little Chimera! Attack his facedown card!" The four-legged monster charged towards its target before leaping into the air and landing on top of it, destroying it. "And Blast Asmodian! Attack his Mystic Swordsman LV. 4!" Blast Asmodian charges towards the Swordsman, swinging its sword at it before a large blast erupts from where the Mystic Swordsman LV. 4 is. As soon as the dust clears, the swordsman is no more and Blast Asmodian goes back to Jaxen's side of the field. "I'll put one card facedown and end my turn. Your move, Stone."

Stone LP: 1500

Jaxen LP: 2000

Rai catches sight of the boys beginning to move closer towards the girl. She knows what's probably going to happen. They're aware that stone may lose, so they're trying to secure their own prize. That's not happening! At least, it won't happen if she has anything to say about it. She silently creeps out of the area before she takes off in a full-out sprint. She realizes the rules would end up getting not only those three but also Jaxen and Stone, as well as herself, expelled from the academy if she does not intervene in the right way.

At this moment in time, Stone grits his teeth before he says, "Fine, then!" Stone draws a card before he glares over to Jaxen. "All I need to do is just attack that Little Chimera and then I'll win this duel within the next turn! So, go, my Mystic Swordsman LV. 6! Attack that Little Chimera!"

"Not so quick, dude!" Jaxen says before he flips over a card. "I activate a Quick-Play Spell! Book of Moon!" At seeing this, Stone's gaze becomes one of fear. "Now, your Mystic Swordsman LV. 6 goes facedown! And that cancels out your attack!"

Stone glances over to Jaxen with a look of anger. However, that look quickly softens. Even Stone doesn't know the reason why but, now he's smiling. _'I'm going to lose… Its barely enough. But, I'm going to lose. So, why am I smiling?'_ he asks himself. His face goes back to its stern look before he says, "I end my turn. Go."

Jaxen blinks a couple of times before he smiles as well. "Right, Stone," Jaxen says. "I won't hold back at all!" Jaxen draws a card before he says, "Okay, Blast Asmodian! Attack his facedown card!"

Stone LP: 600

Jaxen LP: 2000

"Now, Little Chimera! Attack his life points directly and end this!" Jaxen yells out before Little Chimera charges towards Stone and then head butts his duel disk. Jaxen glances up to Stone, showing a small smile before he says, "You're good, Stone."

Stone blinks a couple of times at Jaxen. However, he can't help but smile as well, saying, "You too, kid."

Stone LP: 0

Jaxen LP: 2000

David grumbles as he glances at Stone. "The idiot lost…" he mutters. This is before he grabs the girl from behind. As she lets out a large squeal, Jaxen and Stone glance over to them.

Stone, seeing the scene, clenches his fist and yells out, "What's wrong with you?! We made a promise to let them go! So let her go!"

"Shut up, Stone!" David yells out. "You lost! You have no place to tell us what to do!" After hearing this, Stone takes a step forward and with that, the other two brothers step in front of David, glaring at Stone.

Stone grits his teeth before he says, "So, Mike, Julian… You two will support him? Even now?!" He then begins to charge towards them, saying, "Don't you understand that if we act like this, we'll get sent out of Duel Academy?! Don't you care about that?! We have a chance to get ourselves out of our problems and all you want to do is just cause more of them!"

"That's enough!" a voice rings out before Jaxen looks behind him. He catches sight of Professor Raleigh, walking alongside Rai.

"Professor…" escapes from Jaxen's mouth before he looks over to Stone. Stone looks upset. Its probably because he looks like a possible provoker at the moment.

"Take your hands off of her," Professor Raleigh says. When the three people seem to not listen to what she is saying, Rai walks over to David and pulls the girl out of her grasp. Professor Raleigh walks over to the two girls before she asks the girl, "Are you okay?"

The girl blushes a little bit, although it is not seen well in the dark night. She simply says, "Yes." With that, her gaze goes back to Stone and Jaxen before she says, "The two of them tried to help me."

Professor Raleigh glances to Jaxen and Stone before she says, "Nice job, you two. Rai was telling me about the situation. However, I would've never guessed that these guys would stoop so low." Professor Raleigh walks over to the boys before she says, "I want you guys to go back to your cabin. And I'll make sure that you do it." She grins at the three of them before she cracks her knuckles. With this, the boys begin running off, with the Professor smiling simply at the four teens left behind before she chases after them. "Hey! Your cabin's this way, isn't it?!"

As the four teens stay on the dock, an awkward silence is left between the four of them. This lasts for about a minute before Jaxen coughs and says, "So, Stone… Looks like you're faring better than your friends are…"

Stone lets a groan out before he turns to Jaxen and smirks. "Yeah, I guess so," he says. "I never got properly introduced to you, did it, kid?"

"Kid?!" Jaxen says with a rising temper. He lets out a large sigh. "My name's Jaxen. Jaxen Mihuru." Jaxen glances over to the girl before he asks, "What about yours?"

The girl taps her fingers a couple of times before she notices that Jaxen and Stone are looking at her. She blushes a little bit before she asks, "Oh, you meant me?!" Jaxen and Stone just nod in agreement before she puts on a small smile. "My name is Rebecca Hathaway."

Stone scratches his chest as he says, "Nice to meet you, Rebecca. Name's Neil Dempsey. However, everyone just calls me Stone. I would like it if you called me that too." Rebecca blinks a couple of times before she nods in agreement. He then looks around for Rai, who seems to have disappeared. "Where did that girl go? The other one…"

Jaxen looks around before he says, "You know? You're right! I don't see her at all! It's like she disappeared into thin air…" Jaxen scratches the top of his head before he sighs.

---

Rai is now walking towards her cabin as she mutters, "Still not there yet… However, that duel wasn't too bad. That girl, though… What's the weird feeling that I get from her? Some kind of strength of hers…" She puts a smirk on her face before she mutters, "Talk about competition… And I don't even think I haven't even seen the best of the best yet…"

---

"Duel won by: Vega Tsubame!" an announcer says.

"That's amazing… He didn't even lose one life point…" a person mutters in the crowd. "Completely overwhelming…"

"Hey! Look!" a person yells out.

"Duel won by: Sergei Tannhauser!" another announcer says.

"And he won in the same way…" another person mutters in the crowd.

"What kind of monsters are they?!"

Ending Theme: Game: Ayumi Hamasaki

---

Yeah, I know that its nothing perfect. However, I like to think that I'm getting better. Anyways, I can't take my own opinion! I need to hear yours too! So please give me feedback, okay?

Preview: Jaxen: We've arrived at Duel Academy. With the fresh air and the loads and loads of students that are here, I'm not surprised that Duel Academy is known as the most prestigious dueling place! Anyways, during our day off, Stone, Rebecca, and myself run into the girl again. Apparently, she wants to duel Rebecca. She has this weird aura about her. Who is this girl named Rai Tachibana? What is so special about those two girls? And what this weird feeling in Stone's and my spines?

**Next time: **The Princesses of Dueling! Rebecca vs. Rai!


	3. The Princesses of Dueling

Sorry for not uploading for a while… But, I'm going to try to do better from now on! Now, on with the third chapter! And thanks for the comments, everyone! I'll love it if you can give me more!

Also, after reading around, I've started to pick up on a couple of things. First of all, when I summon a monster, I'll now be adding its star level to its stats. So, its going to be (Level/Attack/Defense) now. Also, if the card's level or its attack or defense points are changed, then I'll put down the last recorded level, attack and defense and then display the new level, attack and defense. So, it'll look like this: (Level/Attack/Defense – New Level/New Attack/New Defense). I'll also underline them just in case you or even I get lost for a little bit.

Disclaimer: I do **not**, I repeat, I do **not** own Yu-Gi-Oh GX! I only own the characters Jaxen Mihuru, Professor Julia Raleigh, Stone Dempsey, the members of Stone's gang, Vega Tsubame, Rai Tachibana, and Heisen Tannhauser! And even then, they use decks that are made up with real Yu-Gi-Oh cards!

**Yu-Gi-Oh XR**

_Chapter Three: __The Princesses of Dueling! Rebecca vs. Rai!_

Opening Theme: Independent: Ayumi Hamasaki

Jaxen takes a bite out of some steaming toast before sipping some orange juice from a cup. He swallows with a large gulp, letting out a sigh of relaxation. "Looks like it's about to start today, huh, Stone?" he asks before his eyes drift across the table to Stone, who is lazily eating his food. He glances over to Jaxen before he nods in agreement. Although he is responding to Jaxen's words, anyone can tell that he is mostly focused on the people behind himself. The three gang members are glaring at Jaxen and Stone from a few tables away. He lets out a large sigh. "Are those guys ever going to stop looking at us like that?"

Stone lets out a large sigh. He knows them. There's a good chance that the will never stop doing that. He understands that. However, he also knows that Jaxen does not. He sips his orange juice before he says, "Why are you sitting with me? It's not like we're friends or anything."

Jaxen ends up choking on his orange juice before he coughs a couple of times. "Don't be so difficult," he states with a raspy voice. "You're one of the only people that I know here. There's Rebecca, but she's sitting with the girls. What? Is my company not good enough for you or something?"

Stone takes a bite out of his toast. "Forget it, I was just wondering," he says with a half-full mouth. Despite Stone's words, Jaxen begins to glare at Stone. He lets out a large sigh. _'Not him, too…'_ he thinks. He glares back to Jaxen before he simply states, "It's nothing!"

"Good morning," a voice from behind Jaxen emits. It is a gentle female voice. As soon as he realizes this, he turns around. Just as he guessed: it's Rebecca. "Good morning, Jaxen… Stone," she repeats, hoping the two of them will resond.

"Good morning, Rebecca," Jaxen states before Stone nods in agreement. "How are y-?"

"Passengers, we will be arriving at our destination in twenty minutes," a voice emits from the PA system. "I repeat, passengers, we will be arriving at our destination in twenty minutes."

"Oh," escapes from Jaxen's mouth. "At least I have some time to get my food down."

"Are you some kind of idiot?" Stone asks as he looks over to Jaxen. Jaxen glances over to Stone, fuming, before he calms down. "Look at the two of us and figure out what's missing." Jaxen glances at Rebecca, who is sporting an Obelisk Blue uniform. He then glances to her side, seeing a rolling bag, which he is assuming that is where she is carrying extra clothes. His eyes now drifts over to Stone, seeing a Slifer Red blazer, which he is keeping open, showing a white undershirt. Stone is carrying a knapsack on his shoulder. He then glances to himself. At this moment in time, he is wearing a white hoodie, which now has a small hints of crumbs on it from the toast that he has been eating, and torn blue jeans that have obviously seen better days.

Jaxen blinks a couple of times. "Oh," he says with a voice of amazement. He blinks a couple more times before he yells out, "Oh, snap!" With this, Jaxen runs off towards his cabin as Stone lets out a large sigh. He's an idiot, that's what he is.

Rebecca laughs nervously before she says shyly, "He's really energetic, isn't he?" She turns to Stone before he glances back to Rebecca.

"Whatever…" Stone mutters.

Meanwhile, Rai is watching from a nearby table. Just in the process of picking up her tray and throwing the remains of her food away, she simply says, "Strange guy." She then carries on with her business.

---

Now, Jaxen is sitting in a classroom, amongst a large group of students. Professor Crowler is now giving his speech. Due to the fact that Professor Raleigh has joined with the Obelisk Blue student teaching staff, Professor Crowler's speech has gone even more longer than everyone else was expecting… and hoping. "And with that, I wish you the best here at Duel Academy," Professor Crowler says before he steps away from the podium. Jaxen would fall asleep right at then if he didn't hear some applause. He then snaps out of his drowsy state and begins clapping along with the other students.

Chancellor Sheppard then steps up to the podium. "Well, this is the end of the Opening Ceremony. Now, remember the rules. Remember that you are dueling's bright future! Follow your dreams, wherever they lead you." He then begins to walk away as the students applaud, most of them happy that the Opening Ceremony is over. As soon as the teachers leave, the students leave as well, flooding out of the room and soon out of the academy. On his way out, Jaxen catches sight of Stone and Rebecca, who are moving quickly amongst the crowd. Well, at least relatively quick.

"Aw, well," Jaxen says before he moves towards them, soon finding his way out alongside the other two people in his posse. He takes a large breath out, saying, "That was really stuffy in there, wasn't it?"

"That's true," Rebecca says in his usual voice, breathing in and out as she is crouched over on her knees. She then stands up, straightening herself out.

"I saw that girl from last night during the ceremony," Stone says bluntly, crossing his arms. "Well, she's part of Obelisk Blue, surprise, surprise… And she was kind of looking towards you, Rebecca." Rebecca blushes at the sudden mentioning of her name before she absentmindedly points to herself. "Yeah, you." He lets out a small sigh. "You two are in the same dorm, right? Since there **is** only one girl dorm, after all. You might be targeted by her."

"Now you're starting to sound weird, Stone," Jaxen says. He glances to Rebecca before he smiles. "Anyways, we need to go."

"But, then you wouldn't get to see our duel," a voice rings out before a person lands in front of the group of three. "Found you." As the person stands up, and Jaxen, Stone, and Rebecca get a good look at him, they begin to notice that the he is actually a she! Well, they should've guessed due to her voice… But, at least her chest and the clothes that she's wearing confirm it. But, it is no random girl. It's the girl from before! It's Rai! "Your name is Rebecca Hathaway, right?" she asks, pointing to Rebecca. "You use a water-type deck. And you also got a perfect score on your dueling exam. I was watching."

Rebecca's eyes brighten up as she begins to realize what Rai is talking about. However, she's humble to a fault and calmly replies, "Well, the only girls in the whole school are in Obelisk Blue so… it feels as if I needed to do well." Rai just simply crosses her arms, not really showing much emotion. This intimidates Rebecca a little bit and she begins shaking her head. "Anyways, I feel as if I don't need to duel you so-"

"It's not like that," Rai interjects, making Rebecca nearly jump back in shock. Rai just simply looks to her before she sighs. "I'm just waiting for someone and he's still not here so I feel like dueling you."

"Still-" Rebecca glances down to her deck and then up into the air. Seeing something that no one besides from her can make out, she simply smiles and then clenches her fists. "Okay, I'll duel you." Rai lets out a 'hmph' before she takes out her duel disk and puts her deck inside. It isn't long before Rebecca replicates what Rai does and draws five cards.

Rebecca: 4000 LP

Rai: 4000 LP

"Duel!" the two girls yell out before Rebecca draws her sixth card. She glances to her cards before she smiles. _'This is a good hand!'_ she thinks before she looks to Rai. "Okay, first I'll use a field magic card! A Legendary Ocean! It decreases the level of all of the water monsters in our hands or on the field. It also increases their attack and defense by 200 points!" A slot suddenly appears on top of Rebecca's duel disk and she then slips the card inside. As soon as she does this, the area that is in the middle of the screen becomes water. Well, at least it seemingly does. It takes a little while for Jaxen to remember that it is just a hologram.

"KaibaCorp sure are geniuses," Jaxen says out loud before Stone simply sighs and pays closer attention to the match.

Then, Rebecca looks to her hand once again before she picks a card out of it. "Okay, I'll summon Gora Turtle of Illusion (3/1200/1400 - 2/1400/1600) in attack mode! And then I'll place one card facedown and end my turn!" A turtle sprouts out of the ocean in the middle and comes next to Rebecca. Then, one card appear in front of her.

As soon as she says this Rai draws a card, saying, "Let's go!" She then glances to her cards and then back to the field. _'So, Gora Turtle's effect would be useful for her if I tried to get rid of it using a magic or trap cards, huh? But only if its directed towards it only.'_ she thinks. _'However, I have no other way for me to get rid of it for now. So, I'll just go on the defensive for now…'_ Rai then lets out a small grunt before she glances up. "Okay, I'll place one monster face down… And end my turn."

"Okay, then! My turn!" Rebecca yells out before she draws another card and then glances to it. Writing it off for now, she glances to the field. "Okay, Gora! Attack her facedown card!" And with this, the turtle begins moving towards the facedown card. Then, it gets into its shell and begins spinning, heading towards the facedown card.

"Too bad," Rai says simply before her card flips up on the field, revealing Mystical Elf (4/800/2000). As soon as she says this, Rebecca braces herself for a blow that is bound to be coming. "However, due to the fact that Gora is stronger now because of A Legendary Ocean, you only lose 600 points."

Rebecca: 3400 LP

Rai: 4000 LP

"True," Rebecca says, making a mental note that Rai knows a little bit about water-type monsters. "Now, I'll place one monster facedown and one card facedown." She then places one card in her monster zone and her magic/trap zone. "And now I'll end my turn."

Rai then draws a card and says, "My turn." She then glances to her card before she smiles. "I can attack with this…" She then yells out, "First, I'll use Book of Taiyou to flip up your facedown monster!" With this, the facedown monster of Rebecca's side of the field is flipped up to reveal White Dolphin (2/500/400 - 1/700/600). Rai smiles before she then places another magic card down. "I now use Lightning Vortex! By discarding one card, I can destroy all face-up monsters on her side of the field!" With this, Gora Turtle of Illusion was struck with thunder, as well as White Dolphin, leaving the whole field empty. "Alright! Now, I'll summon Bountiful Artemis in Attack Mode!" Rai yells out before Rebecca smiles at her. As soon as the card comes out onto the field, it quickly falls into a hole. "What?!" Rai yells out before she glances to Rebecca. Or namely, the card that has just flipped up. "Trap Hole, huh…?"

"Yep," Rebecca simply replies before Rai sighs. She can't really attack like this. Oh, well…

Rai just simply says, "I end my turn, then." With this, Rebecca smiles and then draws again. She then glances to her cards as she looks back and forth on the field. Realistically, she doesn't really have much of a strategy. Her cards can't allow her to break through Rai's Mystical Elf. But, what else could she do in this situation. She just has to find someway to attack.

Rebecca places one card on her duel disk before she yells out, "I summon Revival Jam (4/1500/500 – 3/1700/700) in attack mode!" As soon as she says this, a monster, looking so slimy that it almost makes even Stone cringe, appears. However, Rebecca sighs. "But, that's really all I can do. I'll finish my turn with that." She lets out a small sigh before she smiles to Rai.

However, Rai keeps her normal stern look on her face and then says, "Okay, my turn." She then quickly draws a card before glancing to the field. _'Okay… So, my Mystical Elf has saved me for a little bit… But, if I give her any time to counter attack, then I'll be on the defensive for all of the duel.'_ Rai glances to her card before she says, "All with a flip of a coin…" escapes out of her mouth. Hearing this, Rebecca blinks a couple of times. "I summon this card: Goddess of Whim (3/950/700) in Attack Mode!"

"Here it goes," someone mutters from behind Jaxen and Stone before the two of them turn around. All of a sudden, Professor Raleigh walks out from the thicket of tree and smiles gently at the two boys. "Nice to see you two again, Neil, Jaxen." Hearing this, Stone sighs and turns back towards the duel. "Anyways, here's where Rai's style really shows. Her aggressive attack, I mean." Jaxen blinks a couple of times before he scratches his head. What does she mean by that? Professor Raleigh laughs a little bit before she says, "Just pay close attention to her and see." Jaxen nods mindlessly before he turns back around.

"Okay, then! Now, I'll activate Goddess of Whim's special ability!" Rai says before a hologram of a coin appears on the field. "I'll flip a coin. If it lands on the side that I call, Goddess of Whim's attack points double! Of course, if I call it wrong, it'll halve!" Rai clicks on a button on her duel disk before the coin flips up into the air. This is a huge risk for Rai. If she guesses wrong, then she can face the possibility of being attacked during her next turn. "I call heads!" she yells out before the coin falls out of the air and lands on the ground. Seeing the result, Rai nods. "Heads," she says with a calm state of mind. "And now, Goddess of Whim's (3/950/700 – 3/1900/700) attack goes from 950 to 1900! And that makes it stronger than your Revival Jam! Goddess of Whim! Attack her Revival Jam!"

Rebecca: 3200 LP

Rai: 4000 LP

"And with that, I'll end my turn," Rai says, glancing back to Rebecca.

"Wow! Rai's luck is amazing!" Jaxen says, glancing over to Stone, who is mostly just ignoring what Jaxen is saying right now. Jaxen is acting like a little kid at the moment, after all.

"Rai is known as the 'Princess of Light' to some people after her performance in the entrance exam," Professor Raleigh says, crossing her arms and leaning against a tree. However, Professor Raleigh keeps a face that shows a little bit of interest in this duel. _'That girl that she's dueling is not normal either, though… Rebecca Hathaway… If Alexis Rhodes was the Ice Queen of Duelist Academy and Rai is known as the Princess of Thunder, then Rebecca might be… a Water Princess.'_

"Okay, then! My turn!" Rebecca yells out before she draws a card. She smiles to the card before she says, "Okay, then! I'll summon Mother Grizzly (4/1400/1000 – 3/1600/1200) in attack mode!" A large light appears in the middle of one of Rebecca's monster zones before a blue grizzly bear comes out. "Now, I'll attack! Mother Grizzly! Attack Goddess of Whim! Its back down to 950 because of her turn is over now!"

Rebecca: 3200 LP

Rai: 3350 LP

"And with this..." comes out of Rebecca's mouth before she sighs. "I'll end my turn now."

Rai lets out a small sigh before she draws a card. "My turn," she says before she glances to the field. "I guess there's nothing else… Besides from this." She holds up a card and from Rebecca's distance, she can tell what the card is. "Yes, Tribute to the Doomed. I'll discard one card from my hand to send your Mother Grizzly to the graveyard." With a large roar, the blue grizzly bear disappears and Rebecca solemnly puts the card into her graveyard. Then, Rai puts two cards: Tribute to the Doomed and another card into her graveyard. "Now, I'll activate the last card in my hand! Premature Burial! So, I'll give up 800 life points to summon this card!"

Rebecca: 3200 LP

Rai: 2550 LP

"Here it comes…" escapes out of Professor Raleigh's mouth.

"Athena (7/2600/800)! Come on out!" Rai yells out before a woman, clad in a roman toga, appears in front of Rai. She is not without protection: a helmet on her head and a shield in her hand. As soon as she appears, a spear-like object appears in her hand. Seeing this, Jaxen takes a step back and even Stone's mouth drops a little bit.

"W- What is that?" Stone asks, his interest now piqued by what he has seen from Rai.

"I thought that there must have been a reason why… She wanted to get this card out," Rebecca says, biting her lip.

"That's Rai's ace card, Athena," Professor Raleigh says, smiling a little bit. _'I had quite a problem with this card… Even if you call it a 'light' deck, fairies a light-type cards and usually, you can't have a light-themed deck without having at least one in there. Then Athena's abilities are brought out to its fullest. Be careful, Rebecca.'_

"Amazing," Jaxen says, mostly in awe.

"Now, I'll change Mystical Elf into attack mode and attack! Mystical Elf, attack her life points directly!" Rai yells out before the elf begins moving towards Rebecca.

"If she has nothing up her sleeve, she'll will lose," Stone says, putting his hands into his pockets.

"Not so fast! I'll activate Call of the Haunted!" Rebecca yells out as a card flips up and reveals the ever-so-popular trap card. "Now, I'll use it to bring back Mother Grizzly (4/1400/1000 – 3/1600/1200)!" With this, the blue grizzly bear reappears on the field and Rai lets out a sucking sound from her mouth. She's not very happy about this. The Mystical Elf stops moving before it goes back to its original spot.

"Fine, then," Rai says, letting a sigh out. She'll have to rethink her strategy a little bit. Rebecca's performing a little bit differently than what she was doing before. "Athena! Attack Mother Grizzly!" And all that Rebecca can do is just watch as Athena pierces the blue grizzly bear before feeling a large pressure forcing her back a little bit.

Rebecca: 2200 LP

Rai: 2550 LP

"And now I'll activate Mother Grizzly's special ability! When it's sent to the graveyard as a result of battle, I can summon a water monster from my deck in attack mode just as long as its 1500 or lower!" Rebecca yells out before she smiles a little bit. "Okay, Come on out! Star Boy (2/550/500 – 2/750/700 – 1/1250/700)!" All of a sudden, a starfish, with a weird, toothy smile and one eye appears out of the water. "Star Boy has a special ability: As long as it remains face-up on my side of the field, all water-types are increased by 500 points!" Rebecca smiles to herself. "So, my Star Boy goes from 550 to 750 due to A Legendary Ocean and then 750 to 1250 because of its own special ability!"

"Fine," Rai says, letting out a soft sigh. "I'll end my turn with that."

"Okay, then! My turn!" Rebecca yells out before he goes to draw a card. All of a sudden, she hears something roar. Her eyes widen. But, of course, no one else can notice it because she's glancing down. "You're here…" escapes out of her mouth.

Meanwhile, Jaxen and Stone have chills run down their spine as they hear a roar as well. "Huh…?" escapes out Jaxen's mouth now before he glances over to Professor Raleigh, who blinks a couple of times at him, before he quickly turns around and shakes his head. "Must've been hearing stuff."

"Okay, my turn!" Rebecca yells out before she draws the card and glances to it for a second. She smiles gently. "You really did come," she whispers before she places the card on the duel disk. "Okay! Now, I summon Blizzard Dragon (4/1800/1000 – 3/2000/1200 – 3/2500/1200) in attack mode!" A soon as she places the card down on her duel disk, a whirlpool appears in the middle of one of Rebecca's duel zones and out comes wings and then even a whole dragon. "And now, Blizzard Dragon's attack points increase by 700 due to the things that mentioned earlier to 2500!"

"Aw! So close! Just one more hundred and Blizzard Dragon would be tied with Athena!" Jaxen says, letting a sigh out.

"That's not the other thing that Blizzard Dragon is useful for," Professor Raleigh says, keeping her arms crossed.

"Now, I'll activate Blizzard Dragon's special ability!" Rebecca says, sounding a little bit more confident. "Once on every of my turns, just as long as I have Blizzard Dragon on the field, I can choose one monster! And that monster can't attack or change its battle position until the end of the next turn!" Rai blinks a couple of times. However, everyone can understand what this means: Even if Athena is stronger, it can't attack anymore unless she gets rid of Blizzard Dragon! "And I'll choose Athena!" Rebecca points to Athena before a water ball surrounds Athena and encompasses the monster, trapping it within its watery depths. "And now, I'll attack! Blizzard Dragon! Attack her Mystical Elf!"

Rebecca: 2200 LP

Rai: 850 LP

Rebecca lets out a small sigh before she says, "I'll end my turn now."

Rai nods in agreement to what Rebecca just said before she says, "My turn!" She then draws a card and looks to it. "I now will activate Pot of Greed! So, I can now summon two more cards." As soon as she draws the two cards, Rai smiles a little bit, the first time that she has through the whole duel. However, she quickly erases it from her face before she says, "I'm going to erase your advantage right here and now. First, I summon Blade Knight (4/1600/1000 – 4/2000/1000) to the field! And its special ability increases its attack by 400 when I have one or fewer cards in my hand! And now I'll activate this card! Luminous Spark!" Hearing this, Rebecca gasps. "Yes, so your A Legendary Ocean goes to the graveyard!"

As soon as this happens, a large light emits all over the playing field and as soon as the light dims, there is no more water, just light. "Now, Blade Knight (4/2000/1000 – 4/2500/500) goes up to 2500 while your Blizzard Dragon (4/2500/1200 – 4/2300/1200) goes down to 2300! So, now, I'll attack! Blade Knight! Attack Blizzard Dragon!" And with this, the knight charges towards the dragon and similar to the many fairy tales, slays the dragon with a swing of his sword before returning back to Rai's side.

Rebecca 2000 LP

Rai: 850 LP

"Now, I'll end my turn," Rai says, passing letting a small sigh of relief out.

As Rebecca goes to draw her card, Professor Raleigh says, "She's in a pinch… If she can't find a way to break through right now, then she's in trouble." Hearing this, Jaxen glances over to Professor Raleigh and then back over to Rebecca, mentally voicing his hopes that Rebecca can find someway out of this situation and back into the duel.

Rebecca glances to her cards as she lets out a sigh of her own. There's not much that she can do at first glance. However, as she looks over the cards, he eyes widen and she smiles. "Okay, first I'll put Star Boy into defense mode before I put this card facedown and put one monster facedown and end my turn." And with this, two holograms of cards appear on Rebecca's side of the field.

"Okay, then," Rai says before she draws a card. She glances to her cards before she says, "I'll summon Ancient Elf in attack mode!" And with this, a Mystical Elf, besides from a little bit of difference, appears on the field.

"How can she just pick up monster cards like that?" Jaxen asks, partly frustrated.

"You're the one who was complementing her luck earlier today, right?" Stone asks, trying to keep his focus on the duel.

"And now I'll attack! Blade Knight! Attack the facedown card! And with its special ability, since I have no cards in my hand, it won't activate the flip effect of this monster!" Rai yells out before the toga-clad warrior charges towards the facedown card, ready to take it out.

"And now it begins! My facedown card is…" Rebecca says as she clicks a button on her duel disk before she reveals a facedown trap card. "Shadow Spell! So, now, I can choose one monster on your side of the field and make it restricted so it can't attack or change its battle position!"

"-And also that monster loses 700 attack points as well," Rai says, getting the hint.

"Yes," Rebecca says before chains come out of the card and wraps around Blade Knight (4/2500/500 – 4/1800/500), making it stop in its tracks before it can attack the facedown card.

"Fine, then," Rai says, not showing any worry at all. "Now, I'll have Athena attack!" And with this, the monster charges up to the facedown card and cuts it in half. "Good." However, Rai's expression changes again as she notices the monster that just got cut. "Penguin Soldier (2/750/500)…" Rebecca nods in agreement with what Rai just said before she glances to her monsters. "Then that means that…"

"Yes, your Athena and your Ancient Elf goes back to your hand!" Rebecca says before the monsters disappear from Rai's side of the field and back into her hand.

Jaxen smiles widely before he jumps up and down in happiness. "That was awesome, Rebecca! You took out her whole attack in just one move!" he yells out as Stone lets a small chuckle out. He'll admit that it was a little bit impressive but the duel's still not over yet. Everyone knows at least that.

As soon as Rai's mouth opens to say something, the intercom comes on and says across the grounds, "Everyone, please report to your dorms for the introduction ceremonies! Everyone, I repeat, it is 6:00. Please report to your dorms for the introduction ceremonies and dinner. That is all."

With this, Jaxen pouts a little bit. He wanted to see the duel play out a little bit more. However, Rebecca breathes a sigh of relief. She doesn't really know how much longer she could keep it up. She looks to catch sight of Rai putting her hand on the deck, signifying that she has given up, before the holograms of Athena, Star Boy, and the cards all disappear, leaving Rai, Rebecca, Jaxen, Stone, and Professor Raleigh all remaining in the area. Rai glances to Rebecca before she simply says, "You're good."

Rebecca blushes a little bit, taken back by the sudden compliment. "Uh… Not really. I mean, I'm okay, I guess…" she mutters to herself before Rai spins on her heel and begins to walk off. As soon as she does this, she feels something hit her on the back before she almost doubles over on herself. She glances to her side to catch sight of Jaxen before she says, "Jaxen…" She then glances behind him to catch sight of Stone walking over. "Stone…"

"That was amazing, Rebecca! You almost had her on the ropes there! Just one or two more turns…" Jaxen says as Rebecca blushes a little bit more. She's not used to being complimented so much at one time.

"I- It was just a lucky draw!" Rebecca says before she glances down towards the ground.

Jaxen glances over to Rai before he rushes to catch up with her. "Hey! Rai, right?" Jaxen asks as he gets closer to her. He then stops a couple of steps behind her as she stops before he says, "You did good too! You have some pretty good combos. You're called the Princess of Light, right? Nice nickname!" He smiles widely before Rai just simply continues walking. "Hm… What's with her attitude?"

---

Jaxen and Stone walk into their Slifer Red lunchroom to catch sight of many people in Slifer Red uniforms. As they sit down, one of the third-year Slifer Red students, as the still did not have a teacher for their dorm after all this time, asked everyone about their goals for this year. Jaxen can be quoted as saying, 'I want to be the best duelist in the school, like Jaden Yuki was! And I want to have strong friends too!'

Even though most people ended up laughing or snickering at this statement, Jaxen just simply replied, 'I already have three: Stone, Rai Tachibana, and Rebecca Hathaway!' Even amongst Stone's bitter rejections to his statement then and there, everyone had to stop and think: If he really was found to be a threat to Rai and Rebecca, then maybe he does stand a chance… Maybe a little…

And then, somewhere in the Obelisk Girl Dorms, a chill runs down a certain Princess of Light's spine. Looks like she might be meeting those people again very soon…

---

Ending Theme: Game: Ayumi Hamasaki

---

Hopefully, this will at least somewhat make up for my absence for this long while. I've not given up on this story yet. I still have a long way to take it, after all. And also, review, review, review! This is my first duel outside of Jaxen's territory so I want to see how I did! Finally, tune in for the next few chapters: I'm still introducing some characters to this story, after all! So, later!

Preview:

Stone: A day after getting into Duel Academy, I run into a guy who refers to himself as the Dawn Detective. Weird, right? Anyways, after David beats him up, I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. I know that David is a little bit rough around the edges but he's my friend. Isn't that enough for me to want to fight for him?

**Next time:** Illuminating Justice! The Disciplinary Duel!


	4. Illuminating Justice

Okay, so how can I say this… I actually almost forgot about this story. I know that kind of has no reason to at least come out with something but that's really what happened. Realistically, I wasn't even sure if I was going to continue the story until a couple of days ago when I actually came to fanfiction and started reading some of the stories. All of a sudden, I just had an urge to write again. So, I'm working on Chapter Four right now and it should be out in the next couple of days.

Thank you in advance for your patience! Oh, and as a side note, if you read Chapters 2 and 3, you'll notice that I've changed a couple of things. For example, the storyline plot for Chapter Four is different now, along with the name of the chapter. Speaking of Chapter Four, here it is: Fresh off the press!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the Yu-Gi-Oh franchise. That includes the characters that exist in it, the cards that exist in it, and the overarching shows themselves. The only things that I own are my characters. If you've never heard of their names before within the Yu-Gi-Oh franchise, then I probably own it.

**Yu-Gi-Oh XR!**

_Chapter Four: Illuminating Justice! Disciplinary Duel!_

Opening Theme: Independent: Ayumi Hamasaki

It is the next day and the whole theme of the day is: relaxation time. This is the one day interlude between the arrival on the island and the first day of classes. During this time, all people are adjusting to their new dorms and dorm mates as well as getting a feel for the island. The urge to kick back and relax was only overshadowed by the fact that when you bring together a large group of young teenagers who can duel, rivalries spring up and duels are bound to happen.

However, this is not on Stone's mind at the moment as he lays back in his bed, keeping his eyes open and looking up at the ceiling. His dorm room has him and his three friends crammed into one room. They occupied the last Slifer dorm, up the stairs and all the way to the right. They mostly speculate this is a way to isolate them from the other students. _'After all, we are considered to be delinquents who have been sent to this school as a means of our probation… They wouldn't want their precious students to get victimized or even worse, corrupted,'_ he lets out a sigh before he turns his body to the side, now looking towards the wall. After spending a few moments staring at the wall, he feels something hit his back, prompting him to get up and look down at the ground. One of his friends, Mike, is looking up at him.

"Just because we're allowed to chill today doesn't mean you should sleep around and be lazy," Mike says with a smirk on his face. "Hey, we're heading over to the Obelisk Blue dorms, you know, to scope out the girls at this school? Want to come with?" Stone rubs his eyes, trying to make it look as if he was still asleep, He then hops down from the bunk and onto the floor. Mike lets out a laugh before he says, "I guess that's a yes."

---

While Mike and Stone are on their way to the Obelisk Blue Dorms, they chat about thing. Guy things, like who's the cutest girl, how's the island like, their possible classes… Male student things. After all, Mike is the more studious out of the three, making Stone wonder the reason why he's usually caught up in the mess Yes, he does speak harshly with his brothers around, so does Julian. It makes him wonder who's really in control here…

"So, one of the dueling teachers goes by the name of Alexis Rhodes. Another one is the person who was telling me about: Julia Raleigh," Mike says, snapping Stone out of his thinking. "It really makes me wonder: I haven't really heard much about girl duelists. I just thought that it didn't really appeal to them as much. Maybe I was just out of the loop. I mean, Yugi Moto, Seto Kaiba, Joey Wheeler, Jaden Yuki, Zane Truesdale, Aster Phoenix… All of those names to be known everywhere." Stone then nods in agreement as Mike continues on. He does post a valid point… Girl duelists seem to be more few and further between than male ones.

However, he does know of a few girls with some skills. _'Those two girls from yesterday… Rai and Rebecca, were they?' _he thinks to himself. Including with this, Professor Raleigh and Alexis Rhodes seem to good enough for them to score seats on the Duel Academy's council. Then, a sudden bump on his left side forces him out of his thinking once again.

He then looks around and quickly pin-points a person on the ground. "Oh, sorry," Stone says quickly out of impulse. Believing that the person could get himself up, Stone and Mike continue to walk away.

The person then gets up before he says, "Do you have any respect for authority?!" Stone's right eye only narrows before he lets out a 'huh.' "Obviously, you don't. I am Atsuki. Atsuki Irai! And you're not giving me any respect at all! Knocking me down and then just ignoring me! I'm part of the school's disciplinary force!"

Stone tilts his head, now completely confused as to what is going on. The person identified as Atsuki sees this and taps his foot against the ground. Realizing that he is not going to get an answer, Mike and Stone begin moving away again before Atsuki yells out, "Wait!" Hearing this, the pair turns around and looks back towards him. "Don't you two know who I am?" The two of them glance towards each other, not really expecting the other to come up with a brilliant answer. They then look towards Atsuki again.

"Uh…" Mike speaks up. "Didn't you just recognize yourself at Atsuki Irai?"

"No!" he yells out, pointing in Stone and Mike's direction. "My true alias within the disciplinary squad!" He then brings out his deck and holds it out towards Stone and Mike. Stone just simply blinks as Atsuki then brings it to his head. "The sixth member of the disciplinary squad… the duelist of light…" Hearing this, the side of Stone's mouth begins to twitch a little bit. "The Dawn Detective!"

Stone begins to wait around for a response in any kind of way from Mike. But, nothing's coming. Oh, he hears something!

Nope, that's just the wind blowing by, carrying some leaves with it.

Anyways, as no one is doing anything, Stone clears his throat and says, "Okay, that's nice. Now, we're going to go." Stone then spins on his heel and begins to walk off. Mike begins to follow in pursuit before he hears a sound from behind him: a footstep. And with that, he already knows that Atsuki is going to follow in suit. So, he takes off running, sprinting even, with Mike close behind.

"Wait!" the voice yells out as Stone and Mike take off beyond Atsuki's reach and out of Atsuki's sight. Atsuki lets out a sigh before he rubs his head. "Well, that was a complete bust…"

"Yes, that was," a voice rings out as a male with an Ra Yellow jacket, a pair of black eyes, and a mop of black hair steps out of the woods. He holds a stern look on his face, something that must be seen often as Atsuki is completely unfazed by it. "I kinda wish that you would stop watching all of those shows… I mean, the whole sixth disciplinary squad member thing…? The Dawn Detective?" Atsuki laughs and rubs the back of his head. He then glances down the road as he sighs. "Why blow it out of proportion like that?"

"Wanted to intimidate the guy. Didn't you see? Freaked him out so much that he ran! Maybe he'll just leave the school on his own," Atsuki says with a smile on his face. However, the person is thinking, without a doubt, that Stone and Mike ran away because said person is extremely weird. He's so weird that even said person is wondering how he could have been willing to handle this person for so long.

"Anyways, Atsuki, I'll be leaving now," the other male says before he begins to walk off.

Atsuki, however, yells out, "Wait up, dude!" The person then glances back at him before he continues, "Where are you going, Sergei?"

"To the Obelisk Blue Dorms. After all," the male says before he continues to walk away. "Only the winner is king."

---

And now, it is nighttime. David and Julian are walking towards the school's entrance, having stuffed themselves with food from the school's shop. After all, sandwiches are nice to eat, especially when you can look at Sadie while you're eating them. David puts on a smirk as the two of them begin to talk to one another about the day. "So, she turned you down, huh, Julian? Stinks to be you," David says, to which Julian lets out a sigh.

"Oh, don't worry, my naïve little brother," Julian says. "Tomorrow is another day and so is every day for the next three years." They then arrive at a bathroom before Julian points towards the inside. "I'm going to go. Don't get yourself into trouble, alright?"

"Yeah, yeah…" David mutters as Julian walks inside. David taps his foot as he begins to think, _'The next three years? Seriously?'_ He begins to hear footsteps before he leans against the wall, crossing his arms. He knows that someone is coming but the odds are that its probably someone that he won't like. After all, there are three people in the school that he associates himself with. One of them is in the bathroom right now and another he's almost sure is back at the dorms, reading up on some kind of lame topic. He lets out a sigh. He looks down the hall before he catches sight of Atsuki before he looks back towards the bathroom. Of course, he doesn't know him so ignoring him was almost natural.

"Howdy neighbor," Atsuki says, putting on a smile as David gives him a nod of the head. A cold response but he at least acknowledges that he is there.

At that moment, he begins to get a splitting pain in his head. He holds his head and clenches his teeth so he can hold himself back from crying out in pain or something like that. However, he opens his mouth, feeling his oxygen levels going down and releases his teeth, letting a small cry, which he's hoping is not heard. He assumes that Atsuki hears because he moves in his direction and places his hand on his shoulder. He hears some kind of distorted voice, possibly someone who is just trying to ask him if he is okay, before he yells out, "Leave me alone! I'm fine!" He can feel himself pushing his hand off of his shoulder.

But, then, everything goes black. And all sense in his body goes away. When he wakes up, he finds himself hovering over a cowering Atsuki, who then quickly gets up and moves away from him. Noticing that he saw him with a messed up lip and a closed eye, he raises his hand and opens his mouth to say something. But, nothing comes out and his eyes just drift towards his hand. "What's wrong with me?" he mutters to himself.

---

"I want you all to mature into strong duelists and strong individuals! Well, with that, that's the end of our introduction… Now, off to the actual class!"

And with that, the group full of students groan. This is the first day: Dueling Basics. On the first day of school, all freshman duelists are required to take this class and it actually fills their whole schedule. This covers all of the basics that were established during the pre-Secondary classes taken in middle school. Due to this, this class would not seem to be useful. However, for people like Jaxen, Stone, Rebecca, and other kids who had not entered the school through the means of middle school recommendations, this could turn out to be useful.

"So, what are all of the types of monsters in Duel Monsters, if they have special effects, and their summoning restrictions?" Professor Raleigh asks to the class. A few hands go up and Professor Raleigh points at someone: a male with auburn hair and hazel eyes. As he stands up, everyone notices that he is wearing a Obelisk Blue jacket. "Vega Tsubame, two of them."

The male nods in agreement and opens his mouth before he states: "There are normal types, which have no special effects and are limited by the amount of stars on the card itself. All stars up to four can be summoned without any tributes. Five or six stars, you have to tribute one monster. With anything higher than six, you must sacrifice two monsters. Then there are effect monsters. As their name suggests, they do have effects and are subjected to the same summoning requirements as normal types. Except, at times, their summoning requirements could bypass the rules if its written on the card."

Professor Raleigh nods in agreement before the male sits down. As sits, Jaxen can hear some people talking about Vega being the possible genius of the class and some feat that he achieved on the ship coming to the island. Before Jaxen can turn around and ask something, Professor Raleigh's attention shifts to the other side of the room and points at Rai, who subsequently stands up.

"Continuing where Vega left off, there is also three other types," Professor Raleigh says. "Rai, do you mind describing two of them for us? Same requirements."

"Yes," Rai says, nodding. "One of the other types are fusion monsters, which are restricted by having the right place-holding monsters for the fusion and a card that is or acts like Polymerization. Fusion monsters can have effects but they're not restricted to that. There are fusion cards without effects. The other type is Ritual-type monsters. Ritual-type monsters are restricted by the ritual card that they have. Said ritual card requires the monster to be summoned with tributing a monster or monsters that have a level sum equal to or higher than the number specified. The last type of monsters are Synchro Monsters, which are the newest type of monsters and are barely available on the market at this time. They mostly are fusions that require things known as 'Tuner Monsters.' So far, the good majority of them have special effects but their weakness is that the Tuner Monster and the monsters' levels used for a Synchro Monster must equal the level of the Synchro Monster itself."

"Yes, due to the fact that they aren't really in circulation yet, they won't be featured in this academy as of yet," Professor Raleigh says.

Hearing this, Jaxen puts on a smile before he mutters, "As expected of Rai. She has that 'cold honor student' type locked down pact." Rebecca, who is a few seats away from him, giggles a little bit and Stone, who is sitting behind him, puts on a slight smirk.

Professor Raleigh then turns to the class and says, "Okay, let's break for lunch. On your PDA, you will be receiving an e-mail soon. Said e-mail holds some information about the afternoon's events. In the e-mail, you will also receive a field number and a pair number. The field number tells you which field to go to in the duel field and the pair number is the dueling pair that you are, based on random lottery. The player with the same pair number as you is your opponent for this afternoon." Jaxen puts on a smile before he realizes one thing: They get to duel in the afternoon! He did feel as if the lectures were just talking his ears off. "So, go to lunch and then come to the duel field. Lecture's over now."

---

Back at the Slifer dorm, the freshman are occupying the lunchroom. Or, at least, the ones who didn't bother to use their money to spend it on food. "Oh, so you used all of your money on the food you got yesterday, huh?" Jaxen asks David. Or, in other cases, those who didn't use their money wisely enough for them to have any left over. David lets out a sigh before he mutters something about having Jaxen there to Stone, who shrugs his shoulders. "Oh, yeah… Just a question: Do you guys know anything about Vega Tsubame?" It takes the group a couple of seconds to draw the connection between the name and the face (or the back of the head) that they saw earlier. "They said that he did something amazing on the ship ride here."

"Like we would know," Stone, Mike, Julian, and David say in unison, making Jaxen holds up his hands and laughs a little bit.

"He's possibly the best duelist in this class," a person says from the table adjacent from his own. The group of five glance over to the person as all of the remaining Slifer students start to pay attention to the conversation. "He, along with a Ra Yellow known as Sergei Tannhauser, took on a gauntlet of five students each and defeated every one of them without losing a single life point. Those two are considered to be the kings of this class. They might even be able to go up against the upperclassmen." Jaxen blinks a couple of times as a few of the Slifer students nod in agreement.

At this time, the PDAs ring and almost immediately, the males take out the PDAs and begin reading them. "Duel Field number two, pair seventeen," Stone reads to himself. Not sure as to how many people are in the class, he assumes that he is probably near the beginning.

"Duel Field number one, pair twenty-eight…" comes out of Jaxen's mouth. Accounting for the fact that there are two duel fields and twenty-seven pairs of pairs going before him, he gets a little bit upset. _'A hundred plus people are going before I am…_' he thinks to himself.

---

Now, at the Duel Field, time has passed and the pairing for Duel Field Two is currently… Number sixteen. With this, Jaxen, Stone, Julian, and Rebecca are sitting in the stadium seats. "Hey, it looks as if Mike has the lead now," Jaxen says, pointing down at the pairing for Duel Field number one, pair thirteen: Mike and David. The two of them were actually contemplating the whole idea of not showing up, however this morning, they turned a new leaf. Or at least, was probably threatened by the head of the academy to show up. As it stood, it looks as if the pairing is sub par but well-matched. So much so that the groups behind them are getting bored. "Just one question: Why is Duel Field Two three duels ahead of Duel Field One?"

"Probably because of this beautiful princess right here!" Julian says out loud, holding hands with Rebecca. "I mean, you beat down that Ra Yellow in five draws of the card! Amazing, Princess Rebecca!"

"N- No, it really wasn't that impressive," Rebecca says with a blush on her face. She's not good with receiving praise.

Meanwhile, Stone and Jaxen are watching at afar, wondering what exactly they should do. Jaxen glances over to Stone before he says, "Will he try to kidnap her again? Just a thought…"

Stone shrugs his shoulders. "Who knows? He might be trying to convince her to elope," he says before he turns back towards the duel.

Professor Raleigh walks up to the second duel field before she says, "Next duel to start in three minutes: Neil Dempsey versus Atsuki Irai!"

As soon as Stone hears this, he says, "What?"

Julian then turns his attention from Rebecca and says, "That's the guy!" As soon as Stone hears this, he turns around. "You see, this guy was attacked by David." Stone's eyes widen before he opens his mouth to say something. However, Julian raises his hand. "Let me explain. You see, it was last night. After running out of money and stuff, we were heading to the dorm. But, David and I got separated on our way out. From David's side of the story, all he did was just try to get away from him. However, you know the disciplinary committee. They're just waiting for reasons to kick us out of the school. Us, being his brothers, didn't want to get him to be left alone so… We bet on something…"

Stone tilts his head before Julian continues, "This duel will decide if us brothers will stay at the school or not. If you lose, then we'll go back to the foster home. But, if we win, then we can stay here."

"Wait!" Stone yells out before his points at Julian. He lets out a few breaths before he asks, "Why was I never told about this?! If I was told about this, then I could have-"

"You should feel lucky that we didn't tell you because you would have gone ahead and bet yourself as well! And then, if you lost, then you would be leaving with us as well," Julian says. "You don't want us to leave, right? Then, just win. That's all. You won't mess up, like you did with this kid here, right?" Julian points to Jaxen, referring to the loss that he took to him on the boat. Stone lets out a sigh before he shakes his head and walks off.

Julian lets out a sigh and then sits back. "Man, I, Julian Gibson, acting like that? That's crazy…" he mutters to himself. He looks over to Rebecca before he puts on a smile. "But, I guess I can't still be as assertive as my brother is, huh?" Rebecca lets out a small giggle before Julian tilts his head over to the side. "So, anyways, Becca…"

Jaxen lets out a sigh. Oh, now he has to deal with all three brothers by himself. They're bound to finish before Stone does after all. _'Good luck Stone,_' echoes in Rebecca and Jaxen's heads as Stone heads for the duel platform. Seeing Atsuki, his eye winces a little bit as he notices that the kid has a black eye and a bloodied and swollen mouth. Stone then glances over to Julian before he realizes that Julian mentioned that his side of the story was from David himself, not the principal or anyone.

Stone arrives at the platform before he opens his mouth to say something. However, Atsuki opens his mouth first and says, "So, you're one of their friends… I remember you." Atsuki then puts his duel disk on before he puts his cards on the inside of it. "Let me just tell you now." He points at Stone. "I am the Dawn Detective and I have deduced the way to defeat you. That's enough of payback for what your friend did to me. By defeating you… I will get rid of all of delinquents in our graduating class and that's being a member of the disciplinary committee."

Stone closes his mouth before he puts his duel disk on as well. "I'm sorry for what David did…" he mutters before he puts his cards inside the slot. "However, they're my friends." Atsuki lets out a 'hmph' before the pair draw their cards.

"Duel!" they yell out in unison.

Stone: 4000

Atsuki: 4000

"My turn," Atsuki says before he draws a card. He then glances to his hand before he says, "I will be putting one card face down in defense mode…" A card appears on the field, before Atsuki continues, "…and then two cards face down. And end my turn. Go." Two cards appear in Atsuki's Spell/Trap Zone before Stone nods in agreement.

"Fine, my move!" Stone yells out before he draws a card. Now, let's look at his hand: Judgment of Anubis, Mystic Swordsman LV. 4, Tribute to the Doomed, The Shallow Grave, Divine Wrath, and Polymerization. "Alright, I'll put two cards face down…" And now, Stone's side of the field looks very similar to Atsuki's side of the field. "And then I'll summon one card facedown. My turn's over," Stone says simply, satisfied with his first move.

Atsuki draws, saying, "My move." He then looks to his cards before he smiles a little bit. "I will now flip over my facedown monster card to reveal Toy Magician (4/1600/1500)." The facedown monster card flips over to show a three-foot tall kid in robes, holding a wand. "And now, with its special effect, I can destroy one of your facedown magic cards. And… I choose that one!"

Even though Atsuki is pointing at a card, Stone doesn't even bother to pay any attention towards him and says, "Then I activate my facedown card! Divine Wrath! So, with that, I can destroy your Toy Magician!" Then, Atsuki's eyes widen as his Toy Magician is shocked by a ray of light and disappears. "At the cost of discarding one card." Stone then puts Tribute to the Doomed into his graveyard.

Atsuki lets out a 'hmph' before he then takes a card out from his hand. "So, I'll activate Shield Crush and destroy your facedown monster." At that moment, a beam of light comes down and strikes through Stone's facedown card as Stone sucks his teeth. That was his Mystic Swordsman Lv.4, practically one of his ace cards. "So, now, I'll put one card facedown and end my turn."

"My turn!" Stone draws a card before he sucks his teeth. Barrel Behind the Door is his card. 'I guess I have to…' he thinks to himself before he holds out The Shallow Grave. "Now, I'll activate The Shallow Grave and with that, we both get to summon one monster from our graveyards facedown." Obviously, everyone already knows that the two males will be summoning the same monsters that were facedown before. "And then I'll put one card facedown and end my turn." Now, once again, their sides of the field are almost identical. One facedown monster and three facedown magic/trap cards for Atsuki and one facedown monster and two facedown magic/trap cards for Stone.

"My turn," Atsuki says before he draws a card. He looks to the card before he says, "Okay, first of all, I'll activate Raigeki Break by discarding one card from my hand…" He puts one card into his graveyard before he points at Stone's facedown card. "And now, I'll use it to destroy your facedown monster!" Stone lets out a sigh as, once again, he has to deal with putting his Mystic Swordsman LV.4 into his graveyard. "And now, I'll flip up my Toy Magician and use it to destroy that card!" Atsuki points to Stone's Barrel Behind the Door before the card disappears. Atsuki puts on a smirk before he says, "And now, I'll sacrifice my Toy Magician to summon Luminous Soldier (5/2100/1400)!" A person, six foot tall at least, appears in front of Atsuki and brings out his sword, having six spikes coming out of it. Atsuki then points at Stone before he says, "Now, I'll attack! Luminous Soldier! Attack him directly!" And then the soldier charges towards Stone and swings down on Stone and his duel disk. Stone raises his duel disk to block out of pure instinct before he falls down to his knees.

"Damn it…" comes out of his mouth as Stone looks towards his duel disk. _'1900…'_

Stone: 1900

Atsuki: 4000

"Oh, this isn't good…" escapes out of Rebecca's mouth, watching the duel. "One more attack like that and Stone will lose the duel!"

"Stone…" comes out of Julian's mouth before he shakes his head. "Hey, what are you doing, dude?! Work harder!"

Stone lets out an exasperated sigh as he mutters, "Easy for you to say…" He then rises to his feet, glances over to Atsuki, who is smiling straight at him. "So, I'm assuming that you're having fun, Mr. Dawn Detective?"

"Yeah, much so," Atsuki says before he rubs the back of his head. "Anyways, I'll end my turn with that.

"At least one of us is…" Stone mutters to himself before he draws a card. "Not exactly what I wanted… But, I'll take it. I'll place one card facedown and end my turn." Julian lets out a sigh before he rubs the back of his head. He's hanging on by a thread at this moment.

Atsuki draws a card before he says, "Alright, Luminous Soldier, take aim and end this duel!" Luminous Soldier charges towards Stone before Stone smirks and activates a card. The same card that he had put down no more than thirty seconds ago flips up and sends out a chain that wraps around Luminous Soldier and forces it down into its defense mode position. "Could it be-?"

"Kunai with chain. It has two effects: First of all, it can force the attacking monster into defense mode and the other can help my monsters by boosting their attacks be 500 points. Its kind of obvious which one I'm using right now," Stone states before Atsuki nods in agreement.

"I'll just end my turn with that, then," Atsuki says.

"My turn then," Stone says, drawing his next card and looking to it. "Man… I must be lucky today." He puts on a smile before he holds out a magic card an says, "Now, I'll be activating my Shield Crush magic card!" Atsuki glances over to Luminous Soldier before Stone smiles. "Exactly." He puts the magic card into his duel disk before a ray of light strikes Luminous Soldier and takes off of the field. Atsuki blinks a couple of times before Stone says, "That's all I can do, though. I end my turn with that."

"Yeah, all you can do, huh?" Atsuki asks, putting on a smile. He then draws a card before he looks to it. "Fine, then I'll do something. I'll summon Element Valkyrie (4/1500/1200) in attack mode." Stone lets out a sigh, as he realizes what is going to happen next. "Well, at least you know what's going to happen. Now, Element Valkyrie! Attack him directly!"

Stone: 400

Atsuki: 4000

"Stone! What are you doing, man?!" Julian yells out as he hops up and down in his seat. "400 life points! We're 400 life points away from getting separated from all of the cute girls in this school!"

"You're getting a little bit too hysterical, Julian," Mike says, looking at his brother and blinking a couple of times.

Stone lets out a sigh before he glances over to Atsuki, who has already called his turn over. He then draws a card before he looks towards the card. He remembers this card: Pot of Greed! He remembers that it helped Jaxen in his victory over him. "Well, might do something for me too." He then puts Pot of Greed onto the duel disk before he says, "Now, I'll use Pot of Greed! With this, I can draw two cards!" Stone then quickly draws two cards before he looks to them. _'A good defense at least,'_ he thinks to himself. "I'll put down one card in defense mode and put one card facedown and end my turn."

"My turn!" Atsuki draws a card and smiles. "Now, I'll summon Kaiser Sea Horse (4/1700/1650) in attack mode!" Now, a fish-like figure a really large lance appears before him. Stone blinks a couple of times as he inwardly sighs. "And now, I'll attack! Kaiser Sea Horse! Attack his facedown card!"

And the monster charges towards the facedown card and strikes at it. However, a mount of spikes come out and spear it. "Meet my monster: Thousand Needles (4/1000/1800)! Now, you lose 100 life points." Atsuki glances towards his duel disk before he notices a light emit out. He then looks back towards the field and notices that Kaiser Sea Horse is not there anymore. "And its special effect: When a monster attacks it in defense mode, if the defense is higher than the monster's attack, the attacking monster gets destroyed."

Stone: 400

Atsuki: 3900

"Not a bad move…" escapes out of Atsuki's mouth. "I end my turn."

"And I'll gladly start mine," Stone says before he draws a card and looks to it. He then smiles before he says, "I'll put this monster facedown and end my turn." As another facedown monster card shows up, Atsuki sucks his teeth. Yet another facedown monster. Has he even played one face-up through this whole duel before Thousand Needles?

"My turn," Atsuki says before he draws a card and smiles at it. _'This'll be useful with destroying his Thousand Needles.'_ He then puts a card down on top of his duel disk before he says, "I'll put one monster facedown in defense mode and then I'll use my Element Valkyrie to attack your facedown card!"

"And now let me introduce you to my other monster: Mystic Swordsman LV.4 (4/1900/1600)!" Stone yells out before the striking Valkyrie is stopped by the swordsman's sword and sent back. "And so, that's another 100 life points down the drain."

Stone: 400

Atsuki: 3800

"Hopefully, he's not celebrating this," Julian says, mostly annoyed at the moment. "Yay, he got 200 life points on the guy. Yippie…" He waves his hand unenthusiastically as Jaxen and Mike look over to him and laugh nervously.

"At least he can mount an attack now," Rebecca states softly. "He can deal 400 life points if he can get to the Element Valkyrie with his Mystic Swordsman and that will be enough for him to change it into Mystic Swordsman LV.6 with 2300 attack points."

"Oh, yes!" Julian says, holding Rebecca's hands. "That's why you're the princess of this academy!"

Jaxen, looking at this scene, laughs awkwardly and looks over to Mike. "Does your brother have some kind of illness?"

Mike sighs and says, "Yep, chronic love sickness. That combined with his low intelligence."

"Such a dastardly combination," escapes out of Jaxen's mouth with a smirk on his face before he goes back to the duel.

At this time, Stone has drawn his next card and is looking towards it. _'Maybe I should save it for later…' _he thinks to himself before he puts it into his hand. "Okay, now I will switch my Mystic Swordsman LV.4 into attack mode and use it to attack your Element Valkyrie!"

As soon as he hears this, Atsuki smiles. "Well, since you haven't attacked until now, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I activate one of my facedown cards! Mirror Force!" Stone blinks a couple of times as he sees Mystic Swordsman LV.4 move within range and swing its sword, only for the swing to be redirected towards the monster, defeating it. "Nice try, though."

Stone lets out a sigh before he says, "I end my turn."

"Alright," Atsuki says before he draws once again. "Now, I'll flip over my facedown card to reveal my Summoner of Illusions (3/800/900)! With its special effect, I can sacrifice my Element Valkyrie for me to bring out one of my fusion monsters! Come out! Kaiser Dragon (7/2300/2000)!" Element Valkyrie disappears into a dark hole but a golden dragon soon flies out of it and then spreads its wings. "And now, take out his Thousand Needles!"

"Not quite yet!" Stone yells out before he flips over one of his facedown magic/trap cards. "I activate Pyramid Energy! So, for this one turn, my Thousand Needles has a grand total of 2300 defense points!" Atsuki's eyes widen. "Yes, that means your attack doesn't work." The two monsters clash before the both slide back a little bit. Kaiser Dragon then flies back to Atsuki before he sucks his teeth.

"I end my turn…" Atsuki says before Kaiser Dragon disappears. "I only get to use Kaiser Dragon for that one turn, after all…"

Stone lets out a sigh before he draws a card. That was close. He then glances over to his card before he says, "Alright, I'll put down this card: Mystic Swordsman LV.2 (2/900/0) in attack mode!" Then, a small swordsman with an oversized hat appears next to Stone. "And now, I'll use it to attack your Summoner of Illusions!"

The small swordsman charges towards the summoner before Atsuki smiles. "Now, I'll play a little magic trick…" he mutters before he activates a trap card. "I activate Magical Hats! So, now, I'll take two non-monster cards and mix it with my Summoner of Illusions!" Three magical hats appear on the field, one covering the Summoner of Illusions before they all mix around. And then, as soon as they stop, Atsuki smiles. "Now, try to guess it."

"Don't worry about it, Stone! You have the upper hand right now! There's no way that he can beat you right now!" Mike yells out.

"No, he has to get it right now," a voice rings out and when everyone glances up, they catch sight of Rai, who is looking out at the game. "Now, due to the fact that the card is facedown once again, if Irai draws another monster that he can summon, he can use its special ability to summon another fusion monster. Under the case that Dempsey doesn't have a trap or spell card, that would pretty much be the end of the duel because he can't switch his Mystic Swordsman LV.2 into defense mode."

"Even more so, it'll stay as Mystic Swordsman LV.2, even if he does get it right," Rebecca says. "The reason why he was attacking to begin with was because the card was face-up in attack mode. He would have dealt another 100 life points damage and it would have turned into a LV.4. But, who would have guessed that he would have that specific card…"

Mike and Julian sigh before they glance out to Stone. _'Come on, dude…'_ they both think.

Stone lets out a sigh as he looks to his cards. His eyes widen before he thinks, _'I think that'll work! No, only to get this guess right…'_ He then glances to the card before he points at them and says, "If all else fails…" Stone then points at the further right hat and says, "Mystic Swordsman LV.2, attack that hat!" As soon as the swordsman attacks, the hat, it explodes, symbolizing that he hit the right one. "If all else fails, always answer C!" He then puts on a smirk as Atsuki glances to him and hangs his mouth. His luck's uncanny… Stone then puts a card facedown before he says, "I'll put one card facedown and then end my turn."

Atsuki glances towards the card that Stone just put down before he picks up a card. "Okay, then! I'll first summon my Element Magician (4/1500/1200) in attack mode!" he yells out before he glances towards his hand. _'Alright, let's try to eliminate all doubt and get rid of that facedown card!'_ he thinks to himself before he puts a magic card down. "Now, I will use my magic card: Nobleman of Extermination! Now, I get to choose on card to destroy of yours…"

"Let's just stop there," Stone says with a smirk on his face before he flips over a trap card. It's one of the trap cards that he put down at the beginning of the duel. He had attacked so much and had done so much that he just believed that it was a useless card. But, it works perfectly for this situation. It's Judgment of Anubis. "I can activate it whenever a magic card of yours is about to destroy one of my own magic or trap cards. Now, I get to negate Nobleman of Extermination, choose one monster of yours…" Nobleman of Extermination disappears, along with Element Magician. "Destroy it and make its attack points come out of your life points."

Stone: 400

Atsuki: 2300

"Alright, Stone!" Julian yells out, waving his hand in the air. "You won the standoff, dude!"

Atsuki sucks his teeth before he says, "I'll end my turn, then.

Stone smiles before he draws one card. "Alright, now I'll sacrifice my Thousand Needles for Big-Tusked Mammoth (5/2000/1000)!" he yells out. Then, the small spiky hamster-like monster was replaced by a purple-colored wooly mammoth. Atsuki, seeing this, drops his cards out of shock. Stone smirks before he tilts his head and says, "First, Mystic Swordsman Lv.2! Attack him!"

Stone: 400

Atsuki: 1400

Atsuki looks to Stone before he raises his hand and hesitates a little bit. "You know…" he says, making Atsuki's fear leave him for a moment. "My winning doesn't change the fact that you were messed up. I'm sorry."

Atsuki blinks a couple of times as he thinks, _'This guy… Is a really bad delinquent.'_ At this moment in time, the mammoth charges towards Atsuki, who is not moving. _'He can't even act the part right.'_

Stone: 400

Atsuki: 0

Stone lets out a sigh as Atsuki glances over to Stone and blinks a couple of times. "You must be pretty good to defeat the Dawn Detective! I commend you!" he yells out before Stone's eye twitches.

"Could you just stop calling yourself that?!" Stone yells out, a little bit frustrated at the male.

---

Stone arrives at the stadium seats to a small collaboration of applause. "Nice job, there, Stone!" Jaxen says, with a smile on his face. "Julian's happy because now he can keep on hitting on Rebecca and Rai! See, everyone wins!" He nudges Stone in the stomach as Rai walks up to him. Rai just simply looks at him as Stone looks back at her. Jaxen just takes a step back, sensing the intense air.

"So, what exactly was that last card of yours? That one you put down?" Rai asks.

Stone lets out a laugh before he says, "Getting all serious over that. You're… a real weird one, y'know? If you have to know, it was Polymerization." Hearing this, everyone glances over to Stone.

"So, that means that you-?" Jaxen starts.

"Bluffed," Rai says. "Why not? Everything seemed to be going in your favor. Even more so, you stopped his last fusion attack with a quick-play spell. Why leave it up to chance? If he put it down, he was assuming that you were going to use it to do something. He was assuming that it wasn't useless."

Stone lets out a laugh as he walks over to Julian and David and begin talking with them. Mike, having overheard the conversation, just simply laughs himself. _'He did always have a talent for dueling… That was how he dug us out of the holes that he had put us in. Maybe that's the reason why the three of us decided to come here and bring him with us… He does have a gift for Duel Monsters,' _he thinks before he glances over to Stone. _'Or at least, a lot of luck and a good poker face.'_

Ending Theme: Game: Ayumi Hamasaki

---

Okays, now this is probably longer than my usual ones… I'm just assuming this because this is an extra two pages in Word. That and also, Word says that its two-thousand words more than my other chapters. Personally, I like how this chapter turned out, maybe even more than my usual ones.

But, I need you to tell me how I'm doing! I can't just judge myself, as I'll probably never get better that way! Oh, and if people are interested in adding their own characters, you can send me this profile on them:

Name:

Age:

Year:

Gender:

Dorm:

Type of Deck:

Appearance:

Personality:

Ace Card: (This is the only card that I definitely want to know about! If you want to script out their whole deck, go right ahead. But, the Ace Card is really important to me. Just don't try to duplicate any of my characters, okay?)

History:

Under the circumstance that people like your character, I might make them more than a recurring character. Just want to let you know about that. Anyways, send me these on PMs, too… However, if you don't make a review, then I won't consider your character! So, please make a review!

And, off to the preview for the next chapter!

Preview:

**Jaxen:** Well, next chapter is a tag dueling special! And I get a duel in after a two chapter hiatus!

**Rebecca:** After finishing the first week of school, we end up going to an event hosted by the school every Sunday to help bolster the tag dueling knowledge of the students. After hearing of Vega's tag team, Jaxen and I join up to tag duel as well.

**Jaxen:** This is the introduction of one of the two proclaimed kings of Duel Academy's freshman class, as well as the introduction of Rebecca's ace monster! So, don't miss this!

**Rebecca: **Next time, Take Off, White Night Dragon!

**Jaxen and Rebecca:** See ya there! *waves*


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